OTC codeine in Canada

B

banana king 84

Bluelighter
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Midwest US
In Niagara Falls, N.Y., it is legally impossible to buy codeine painkillers without a doctor’s approval.
But drive across the border to Niagara Falls, Ont., and you can buy as much codeine as you want. The Toronto Star purchased 1,000 tablets from five pharmacies with barely any questions asked — in little more than an hour.
Codeine is an addictive narcotic and countries like the United States, Sweden and Germany have made the painkiller available by prescription only.
In Canada, however, codeine is widely available without a prescription. In 2013, Canadian pharmacies stocked their shelves with more than $16 million worth of non-prescription codeine, according to estimates by health data company IMS Brogan. This easily translates to hundreds of millions of doses.
These millions of dollars and doses obscure a crucial problem: there is a startling lack of evidence that these drugs work better than household painkillers like Tylenol or Advil.
But their low doses of codeine are addictive — and driving Canadians into hospitals, addiction treatments and years of opioid dependence.
These drugs are “kind of useless,” according to Ross Tsuyuki , editor of the Canadian Pharmacists Journal and a professor of medicine at the University of Alberta. “Every good drug has its risks as well. But a not-so-good drug with risks? It’s pretty hard to justify.”

Full article here:


http://m.thestar.com/#/article/news...gation-canadas-invisible-codeine-problem.html
 
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God forbid Canada doesn't treat everyone like children and tell people what they can or can't do. And no one should ever point to America as a model for responsible drug policies.
 
It's unfortunate to see such a biased article in the Star. Why not interview a couple people who manage mild pain with these codeine pills and have never had a problem with addiction (i.e. the vast majority of people using the pills)?

Of course, they decry the potential liver damage caused by the pills (a very real concern), but don't even consider one of the alternatives, which would be to simply remove the NSAIDs from the pills.
 
StanleyJobson said:
God forbid Canada doesn't treat everyone like children and tell people what they can or can't do. And no one should ever point to America as a model for responsible drug policies.
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I know.. but it is for our best..;)
 
realtalkloc said:
23/ 1/ 2015
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You scallywag :p

Brand Name / Caffeine (in mg) / Codeine (in mg) / Acetaminophen or Paracetamol (in mg)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tylenol 1 / 15 / 8 / 300 ǂ
Tylenol 2 / 15 / 15 / 300
Tylenol 3 / 15 / 30 / 300
Tylenol 4 / 0 / 60 / 300

ǂ OTC in Canadian pharmacies (actually it's kept out of view to discourage buying it, but when the pharmacist begins yelling to customers that they sell them at a 'competitive' price, word gets around).
ǂǂ Some Canadian pharmacies sell generic brands of Tylenol 1 with 325 mg of Acetaminophen/Paracetamol per pill instead of 300. They were unavailable for comment.

'medicine cabinet' said:
I can see doing a cwe of norcos or percs but wouldn't you end up with caffeine in your final product?
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Yar - unfortunately.

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This 'Rob' character seems like he's a bloody tool, I'm sorry.

I can certainly sympathize and also personally empathize with what it means to be (severely) physically dependent and psychologically addicted to a potent µ-opioid agonist such as Hydromorphone, Diacetylmorphine, Fentanyl, and Oxymorphone (among others), as well as Codeine of course since that's the first in a long list that I worked my way up with.

So I can understand that he may feel trapped, hopeless, and frustrated about his present state because his ability to function is contingent on whether or not his µ-opioid receptors are being agonized by the Codeine present in Tylenol 1 with Codeine.

It should be noted - chances are that Rob is a 'fast metabolizer' of CYP 2D6 substrates. That is, he's got multiple copies of the Cytochrome P450 2D6 liver enzyme, which in turn facilitates significantly increased 2D6-induced metabolism of the Codeine present in the T1s to Morphine. And if true, then pardon me Rob for letting you know that, while surely it can be a double-edged sword per say, you're one lucky son of a bitch, but I digress.

The point I'm trying to get at is this: Why the fuck did this guy seemingly decide to pitch his story; his habit; his fucking drug of choice to a mainstream media outlet? Assuming it wasn't done, I wish someone would have told (and convinced) him that this Jennifer Yang doesn't give two shits about what he's been through (or will be going through in the future) due to his habitual consumption of Tylenol 1 with Codeine, but rather, pretty much only the amount of attention the story will garner and that's about it - remorseless, backstabbing, narcissistic capitalism at its best (or worst).

What the fuck were you thinking Rob? Feelings of guilt? Looking for a hug? Been judged harshly by those who claim to love you? Trying to score some easy money to buy another bottle? Whatever the case, it's shit like this (going to, or, cooperating with the mainstream media) that can contribute to furthering prohibitionist political agendas.

If all codeine products in Canada do end up becoming Rx only, we'll be sure to see yet more demand for black market opiates. And the harsh reality of that will culminate with another spike in overdoses. Not cool Rob. And while I admittedly don't know what exactly made you partake in this story (duress?), I'm still certain that you could have went about in a way which wouldn't have had the potential to undermine our desire to end this unjust, tyrannical war on (certain) drugs like this type of article usually does.

What's done is done though - fuck it, don't beat yourself up further. God knows I don't wanna see another life prematurely depart this world because of the war on our minority group. And I'd gladly give you a hug, should you wish it. Take care of yourself, and know that your life remains as precious as it was before you began consuming mind altering substances. And don't listen to the derogatory (and also hollow) rants of self-proclaimed drug gurus with zero intimate / first-hand experience regarding what they spew out. They are victims in their own way - the result of decades of selective propaganda from Uncle Sam and his cooperating counterparts in allied nations around the world. Cheers friend ;-)
 
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When I traveled to Toronto for vacation I took advantage of their laws, but I bought cough syrup with codeine, cause I thought that was safer than pills & didn't want to bother with a cwe. There's a thread here about it not being recreational, each 5 ml contains: 3.33 mg codeine phosphate, 30 mg pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, & 100 mg guaifenesin. In other words, a 250 ml bottle only has 166.5 mg codeine but 1500 mg pseudoephedrine, which would be rather unsafe. I had maybe 30 ml tho & just got a little speedy high, & a growling stomach the next morn lol.

Anyways, I think the A C & C is easier to do a cwe on than the Tylenol ones, 15 mg caffeine for every 8 mg codeine, plus 375 mg aspirin which separates easily thru a coffee filter, after dissolving the pills in some warm water then freezing the mixture just enough to see some ice crystals form. I've gone as high as 25 pills, so 200 mg codeine & 375 mg caffeine, the caffeine definitely ruins the experience, although it's only the equivalent of 33 mg hydrocodone so wouldn't be that powerful anyway.
The reason I would see codeine being made prescription only, though, is krokodil. I saw on Drugs Inc. some addicts from Niagara using it, it's popular in Ukraine & Russia where codeine is OTC, & as with sudafed, the law gravitates to the lowest common denominator unfortunately. At least we'll still have kratom, right?
 
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