People are throwing tantrums about being refused addictive pills from pharmacists. This comes at a time when the federal government is setting up a system of "policing" morphine based medications. If patients are frustrated by over the counter tablets what are they going to do when refused prescriptions?
Codeine is the drug of choice for most. Because it is freely available and not officially restricted one can understand the frustration when a sale is refused. It is not much use for pharmacists to call police. Giving people police records is going to make them more antisocial.
Telling people not to use Nurofen Plus for a headache is stupid. The public thinks, "Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot take?" - and rightly so! Pharmacists are not trained to deal with the public. They only learn chemistry, mostly irrelevant at that in today's prepacked world.
Monitoring purchases is a silly idea. It is another layer of costly bureaucracy that the public must pay for. If they are that serious then have it prescribed by a doctor, who now write scripts for extra strength, forte, codeine. That will take the pressure off pharmacists and put it on the doctor. GPs will not thank pharmacists for that.
Pharmacists know that having all codeine put on prescription will reduce sales so they are not calling for this. They want more talk. Yes, talk always helps - if you really want a solution that will reduce sales.
At the moment chemists are judging codeine buyers by the way they are dressed. Put on a suit and you can have as many codeine tablets as you want. I always thought pharmacist are a bit "thick". This confirms it.
Health by Ty Buchanan
