Pharmacists' group in 'legal drug abuse' warning
One of the country's leading pharmacists today urged a re-think on how some big brand painkillers are sold as concerns mount about legal drug abuse.
Darragh O'Loughlin, a senior member of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU), believes tighter controls on potentially lethal codeine-based drugs could stem addiction levels.
Customers buying the likes of Solpadeine and Nurofen Plus should be screened before being sold the over-the-counter medication that can lead to dependency, he suggested.
"If codeine-based painkillers were only available following a proper consultation with a pharmacist, you would have to explain your symptoms," said Mr O'Loughlin.
"And if the pharmacist was satisfied it was the right medicine before supplying, I think that would make it less likely that people would have problems with it."
Little research has been published on the extent of codeine and other painkiller addiction in Ireland, although anecdotal evidence suggests it is a widespread problem.
The IPU - which represents 1,600 pharmacists in Ireland - and industry body, the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, have launched an awareness campaign.
Posters and leaflets are to be issued to chemists country-wide urging customers to seek out advice and help, if necessary, when using painkillers.
"Most of the centres that deal with drug addiction confine themselves to illegal drugs so there isn't really that much published research on the level of addiction to prescription painkillers or over-the-counter painkillers," said Mr O'Loughlin, chairman of the IPU's s Community Pharmacy Committee.
"But every pharmacist gets a feeling at some stage that somebody is buying a product not because they have the symptoms that would make them need that product, but because they have a problem. "
Codeine is an opiate, from the same family as morphine and heroin, and as such can be addictive in the same way as the other two more notorious drugs.
Both Solpadeine and Nurofen Plus make up the vast majority of codeine-based painkillers sold over the counter in Ireland, according to the IPU.
Mr O'Loughlin insisted harsher restrictions, like making the painkillers prescription-only, would be counter-productive leading to enormous strain on the health service.
"The difficulty is that 99% of people who use them use them correctly and don't put themselves in harm's way," he said.
"If you make them too tightly controlled, making them prescription only, everybody with a headache, hangover, period pain, toothache or whatever, would be queuing up at a doctor's surgery for a prescription.
"While [addiction] might be a widespread problem geographically - all over the country - it is still only a small number of people affected.
"It doesn't make sense to inconvenience the entire population," he added.
