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• Antibiotic resistance
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• Opiate addiction
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Letters to the Editor
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Opiate addiction
Codeine addiction is a serious problem
From Mr R. I. Dunkley, MRPharmS
Some pharmacists have to deal with the ravages of heroin addiction by
supplying methadone or buprenorphine to their patients. But how many pharmacists
have given thought to the patients that receive prescriptions for
co-codamol or co-proxamol?
Some of these patients are just as addicted to their medicines as any of
the heroin users and they will experience a withdrawal syndrome if the
medicine is withheld — albeit not as severe as that from heroin but
enough for it to be terribly uncomfortable.
The purchase of co-codamol over the counter is another source of worry
to community pharmacists and the purchase of Solpadeine by addicts has
become enough of a source of worry to the general public to spawn
a website
for people to share their experiences.
Clearly, there is a problem with codeine.
However, I would ask fellow pharmacists to look at the composition of the
tablet the public can buy over the counter. It consists of codeine 8mg
and paracetamol 500mg.The addict wants the codeine but has to take a huge
dose of paracetamol as well to get the hit. The danger is, of course, that
the paracetamol will damage the liver, possibly resulting in death.
Could I suggest a way forward? There has recently been released a low-dose
buprenorphine patch that gives a low level of the drug to the body
and this, I think, would make people who have been on long-term codeine
therapy able to give up the codeine and hence the paracetamol. The only
other therapy for these people would be methadone.
I came across this medicine the other day with a visit from a drug company
representative and I thought that it could make a really good treatment
for codeine addicts.
Bob Dunkley
Leeds |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal