{"id":217118,"date":"2019-06-02T21:36:17","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T01:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=217118"},"modified":"2019-06-02T21:36:17","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T01:36:17","slug":"opioid-epidemic-pharmacists-call-for-stricter-access-to-low-dose-codeine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/06\/02\/opioid-epidemic-pharmacists-call-for-stricter-access-to-low-dose-codeine\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Opioid epidemic:’ Pharmacists call for stricter access to low dose codeine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWe’re in the middle of this opioid epidemic,\u201d said Manz. \u201cWe have to be more conscious of what’s going on.\u201d (File Photo<\/a>: ep_jhu\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

REGINA \u2014 Pharmacists say it’s time for Canada to restrict access to over-the-counter codeine as the country grapples with an opioid crisis.<\/p>\n

There have been renewed calls to limit access of low-dose codeine products, including Tylenol 1 and their generic counterparts, since a pharmacy in Saskatchewan was disciplined for failing to understand how the drug can be abused.<\/p>\n

Codeine is an opiate used as a painkiller and to treat coughs but can be misused. In most of Canada, codeine comes in eight-milligram pills, mixed with two other ingredients, that can be purchased without a prescription.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan’s College of Pharmacy Professionals recently released details of 15 charges against Dewdney Drugs, a store in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood. The pharmacy has since closed.<\/p>\n

An inspection revealed that between April 2017 and January 2018, the pharmacy purchased 1.6 million Tylenol 1 tablets.<\/p>\n

There was no report of what happened to 1.1 million of them.<\/p>\n

Matthew Manz manages a nearby pharmacy and complained about Dewdney Drugs after the store sold a patient he was treating for opioid dependency three bottles of tablets containing codeine in less than a month.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan’s pharmacy watchdog determined codeine was that patient’s drug of choice.<\/p>\n

Manz and some other pharmacists choose not to stock Tylenol 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re in the middle of this opioid epidemic,\u201d said Manz. \u201cWe have to be more conscious of what’s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re doing a harm reduction program within the pharmacy ? You’re getting people off opioids, but then at the same time you’re offering over the counter opioids.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my head it didn’t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian Pharmacists Association supports the move to prescription status. It’s also calling for Health Canada to review why low-dose codeine products are used in the first place, since evidence suggests there are better alternatives to manage pain.<\/p>\n

Barry Power, the association’s director of therapeutic content, said Canada is one of the world’s top codeine consumers.<\/p>\n

Health Canada says in 2015 more than 600 types of low-dose codeine tablets were sold.<\/p>\n

The agency is reviewing whether low-dose codeine products should be restricted to prescriptions only. Manitoba made the move in 2016.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan’s pharmacy college, citing health risks and the drug’s effectiveness compared to non-opioid drugs, said last year that it was considering a ban on the sale of low-dose codeine,<\/p>\n

The college’s registrar says no decision has been made yet.<\/p>\n

Jeana Wendel said in an email that it’s considering a model similar to Manitoba’s, as well as better monitoring of pharmacies and harm reduction education.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil is looking at a different approach versus an all-out ban,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

David Juurlink, a drug safety researcher in Ontario, said making the drugs available only by prescription is a no-brainer, because it would decrease access to a group of products that \u201ccauses more trouble than it solves.\u201d<\/p>\n

He calls the recent case in Regina \u201cclearly suspicious\u201d and said low-dose codeine products are prone to misuse.<\/p>\n

People can get a buzz if they take enough of them, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember very vividly in small town Nova Scotia where I used to work, people would go from drugstore to drugstore and they’d buy 100 tablets every couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juurlink and other medical experts say people who binge on over-the-counter codeine pills are at risk of liver poisoning from excessive levels of acetaminophen in their bodies.<\/p>\n

Rand Teed, an addictions counsellor near Regina, said cough syrup containing codeine is mixed into drinks to induce euphoria, but with it comes a high risk of overdosing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REGINA \u2014 Pharmacists say it’s time for Canada to restrict access to over-the-counter codeine as the country grapples with an …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":187374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,37,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-health","category-news","mauthors-stephanie-taylor","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217127,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217118\/revisions\/217127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}