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Report Highlights Problem Of OTC Opiate Addiction

Monitoring over-the-counter sales of opiates including codeine-based pain killers should be considered as a way of tackling drug misuse by so-called "respectable addicts", according to a public health academic.

The call by Richard Cooper, a lecturer in public health at the University of Sheffield, follows his research into the misuse of OTC opiates which was funded by the Pharmacy Practice Research Trust.

His findings, published in a report (PDF) by the PPRT last week (2 September 2011), reveal the frustration that community pharmacists feel because they are unable to track the supply of opiates to customers from other pharmacies.

He found that the profession traditionally adopts a monitoring role in OTC opiate misuse based on frequency of purchase.

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Extract taken from PJ Online