List of codeine meds needing a prescription published

It comes after the Health Minister decided on July 12 to limit the availability of codeine-based medicines, due to young people often using it as a drug.

Minister Agnès Buzyn made it compulsory to obtain a doctor’s prescription (known in French as an ordonnance) for all drugs derived from opium, including dextromethorphan, ethylmorphine, and noscapine, as well as codeine.

Medicines based on these drugs are often used to suppress coughs, or treat pain.

The Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Medicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM) has published the official list of medicines that will no longer be freely available at the pharmacie, including those with the brand names Drill, Humex, and Codliprane.

Whether cough syrup, throat pastilles, or tablets to treat pain or fever, if the medicine has an active ingredient of codeine - or any of the other restricted substances on the list - you will now need to see a doctor first.