Codeine crackdown comes into effect

[shruman]

Just picked up 2 boxes of 40 generic

Girl picked them up & took them over to the chemist (who was busy) he looked at her shook his head (looked quite annoyed) & said "fine". That was it.

Speaks for itself realy.

I realy do hope it helps you to get clean faustus. Do you think its best for all or just best for you?. All the best with it mate.

[Sonny Jim]

Mixed feelings here...

I think the gov should rack off and leave our N+ super sized packs alone. On the other hand, I know people doing seriously fucking hard time for selling illicite opiate (H, oxy's etc). Sure selling smack is not exactly the same as selling a professionally made ibu/cody tabs but I see a lot of similarities as well. Imagine a world where these big pharmaceutical corps got hauled over the coles for creating addiction like the (usually) financially ruined, lower end, illicit opiate merchants, who do so to support their own habits. I don’t like to see any one being done for narcotics but it would have an element of "fairness" IMHO.

That whole thing about crushing and injecting OTC codeine preparations has got to be the biggest load of shit I have heard this week (and its only Tuesday). I believe there are some who take dangerous amounts of N+ tabs whole (without CWE) but I am sure most wouldn’t last a week or two without serious renal and or GIT complications. I am sure, at least I hope, most people are CWEing their cody.

Oh, as for the injecting of cody.

As mentioned previously in this thread codeine has no little to no CNS effect when taken I.V. In fact it is very dangerous, as already mentioned. I know this from personal experience and pharmacology class. It may have some effect SC or IM but I have no experience with this.

As I understand it, codeine its self has negligible CNS opiate effects in humans. Put basically, it has to be metabolised by the liver into active metabolites, morphine being the most notable. IME the best way to achieve a centrally acting opiate effect from codeine is to take it orally and let your liver quickly turn it in to the warm and fluffy goodness your CNS so desperately craves.

I had a look at the local pharmacist yesterday. The May 1 changes where in full swing, so all I can really say is thank heck I got clean before the party finished.

To be honest, I cant believe the gov moved on this one. N+ and other OTC's codeine preparations seem to sell like hot cakes. Come on Pharmacists Gild and big pharmaceutical corps, lobby harder. Your about to loose heaps of sales to illicite opiate dealers. So pull out the finger and show the gov its the big corps and industry groups that run the show.

Also, to be fair. I think a small number of people dependent on codeine will benefit from the changes, as long as they don’t find a regular supply of stronger opiates. Damn, I bet there are a lot of people out looking for hook-ups rite now.

[Heffa]

Sonny Jim, i love your post. Can relate and concur with pretty much all of it.

A mate of mine has just about completely cleaned up since hearing about the new laws around 2 weeks before the law came into effect.

Its hard but i have to say that even though he had been thinking of stopping before, the thought of having to travel to multiple pharmacists a week seemed to nail his codeine coffin.

Would prefer that rather than the gov taking away the various sized packs and overloading docs and emergency rooms with new, unnecessary patients and addicts, there should be more awareness in the media about the addictive qualities of these products as well as the harmful effects of over-use and prolonged use.

The only time i have seen anything in the media was on a current affairs show around a month or two before the new laws were introduced. I really think that there should be more exposure because I've found that apart from the people actually looking for a kick, it seems that a lot of people don't realise they have a dependence until its too late or hard to go back. (this was the case with my friend - from chronic back pain to addiction in a matter of months)

NOTE: Thanks for starting a topic on this issue, i've been really keen to hear other's opinion on this scheme.

[Chiral]

I think it's rather interesting how many people have come out of the woodwork to say they are, or have been addicted to codeine...lot more than you might think ey..!

[kindness]

yep.

Sure is a wonderful plant the old pap - until it grabs you and wont let you go.

[faustus]

I believe there are some who take dangerous amounts of N+ tabs whole (without CWE) but I am sure most wouldn't last a week or two without serious renal and or GIT complications. I am sure, at least I hope, most people are CWEing their cody.

LOL. what makes you think that you can't take 14.4 grams of ibuprofen a day for a couple months, with no complications? toxicity is said to start at ~100 mg/kg, but i like think people on SAB aren't pussies.

so what's the deal, do they take down your details with every purchase?

[kindness]

nope, the pharmacist just has to be involved in the sale. Has to tell you about the product, i.e. don't take more than 8 per day, for blah days in a row, drink lots of water blah blah... that sort of thing. Also you can't get more than a 5 day supply meaning no boxes with more than 40 in them. No record keeping as per pe sales - they are just making it slightly harder. Not by much.

So really IMO it doesn't make that much difference if you really do need to use them for a cold or massive headache or whatever. They are still available - just makes it harder for those who may have inadvertantly become addicted to them.

[Sonny Jim]

LOL. what makes you think that you can't take 14.4 grams of ibuprofen a day for a couple months, with no complications? toxicity is said to start at ~100 mg/kg, but i like think people on SAB aren't pussies.

Sorry, I am not exactly sure how to take your tone in this reply.

I am aware of the 100mg/kg in humans thing from Wiki. Seems wrong to me or misleading. I cant find it now but my old mims (about 4 years old) said 3-4 grams was the upper limit.

either way, "what makes me think you cant take 14.4g/daily"

Well personal experience has shown me that 600mg/day was enough to cause gastric discomfort and cholestasis.Of course where all different but I have good reason to believe I have a strong stomach, relative to others. Sure it is not as tocic as paracetamol but NSAIDs are one of the leading causes of gastric/duodenal ulceration in Australia.

So, I dont think 14.4/g daily for a couple of months is advisable. Maybe ibuprofen is safer than I thought (which suits me down to the ground) but I reckon I would be vomiting and shitting blood after a copuple of weeks of that.