Health Canada decides to put a ban on non-prescription sales of codeine
Codeine is an opioid which is used mainly to treat pain but also widely known for abuse.
The department is aiming to make pain pills or cough syrup which contains codeine but will only be available after doctors' prescription, report said.
The regulation came after the warning in 2016 by then Health Minister Jane Philpott.
"While a prescription may not be needed today, codeine can produce drug dependence and has the potential for being abused," Philpott said in 2016 as quoted by CBC News.
"This practice must be stopped, and so I will also introduce regulatory changes that will propose requiring a prescription for low-dose codeine products," she said.
The regulatory notice stated that around 20 codeine tablets were sold per person in 2015.
The report also said more than 500 people entered into addiction treatment centres with codeine as the main cause of their problem.
Presently, the report said, Canadians can buy low dosed codeine as long as two other medications are present with it.
(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)
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