Introduction
In recent years, there has been a tendency amongst governmental regulatory bodies in different countries, including the Irish Medicines Board, toward de-regulation of prescription-only medicines to pharmacy status medicines in an effort to reduce state drug budgets. This practice has the added benefit of reducing the workload of GPs, of increasing patient self-medication, and, of extending the screening and patient education roles of community pharmacists. Accordingly, and especially in light of the current economic climate, this tendency is unlikely to revert. [1] Regulatory bodies have however faced criticism over this movement due to the safety concerns associated with the increased availability of potentially dangerous drug-substances. Codeine is an example of one such drug.