Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 February 2022
228. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 157 of 9 February 2022, if he will address the question asked of updating the current regulations on the sale of painkillers containing addictive substances such as codeine, that they will not be available as over the counter medication without a prescription. [8681/22]
View answerCodeine is a mild to moderate opioid (narcotic) analgesic which, due to its potential for misuse, is a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs legislation. As an analgesic, codeine is most often used in combination with other analgesics such as paracetamol or ibuprofen and is currently authorised in Ireland in such non-prescription products for pain relief. It is also available in single ingredient, non-prescription products, as a cough suppressant. These authorised products are available without a prescription through retail pharmacy businesses (pharmacies) only. There are currently no plans to update the regulations regarding the sale and supply of these products.
The Pharmacy Act 2007 and the Regulation of Retail Pharmacy Businesses Regulations 2008 require that all medicines supplied through a pharmacy must be supplied by or under the personal supervision of a pharmacist and that all non-prescription medicines supplied must be the subject of appropriate counselling.
The pharmacy regulator, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), issued guidance to pharmacists in 2010 on the safe supply of non-prescription products containing codeine. This guidance was updated in 2015, 2017 and most recently in October 2019. The Guidance covers the requirements set out above and, in addition, contains further restrictions which apply to the supply of codeine-based products.
The full guidance document, along with information on current legislative requirements, is available on the PSI website:
thepsi.ie/Libraries/Folder_Pharmacy_Practice_Guidance/01_3_Safe_supply_of_Codeine_to_patients.sflb.ashx.
