Australians urged to return unused prescription opioids to pharmacies

Nearly 150 Australians are treated in hospital every day due to the adverse effects of addictive opioid pain medicines, including codeine and oxycodone.

And nearly two thirds of all drug-related deaths in Australia are linked to prescription opioids, accounting for more than twice as many deaths as the illegal opioid heroin.

In a bid to reduce this the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is urging Australians to return unused prescription pain relief medicines to their local chemist.

"Australians who are prescribed painkillers and don't use them all are advised not to keep them 'just in case' or for use down the track," said head of the TGA Professor John Skerritt.

"Keeping unused prescription pain medication in the home is dangerous for children and pets if accidently consumed, and can be a target for theft and misuse."

All opioids-including codeine-can be addictive and their use can result in dependence, accidental overdose, hospitalisation or death. They can also have serious interactions with other medications.

Unused pain relief medication, like all medicines, can be returned to a local pharmacy for safe disposal free of charge.

The TGA is rolling out a social media campaign and working directly with pharmacies to promote this service.

In another move to reduce the potential adverse impacts of opioids on the health of Australians, the TGA also made the decision last February to up-schedule codeine to a prescription-only medicine which it says has led to a "significant decrease" in the number of products supplied to patients.

Sales of products containing codeine in Australia during 2018 was around half the average total supplied in the previous four years - from an average of 34.7 million packs per year from 2014 to 2017, to 17.2 million packs in 2018.

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