Earlier this year, the NHS announced that it had cut opioid prescriptions by almost half a million in four years. But opioids aren’t just available on prescription in the UK. They can be bought over the counter at pharmacies in the form of co-codamol – pills that contain codeine and paracetamol.
Each co-codamol pill contains a fixed amount of 500mg of paracetamol and between 8mg and 12.8mg of codeine, depending on the product. (Co-codamol with more than 12.8mg of codeine is only available on prescription.)
Co-codamol is the second most dispensed painkiller in England after paracetamol – with over 15 million packs sold in 2021. In 2023, the UK was estimated to be the third largest consumer of codeine at over 28 tonnes after India and Italy (75 tonnes and 33.5 tonnes, respectively).
