A Narrative Review of Codeine and Preventive Measures in Mitigating against the Widespread of its Abuse and Misuse

Abstract

Codeine is a phenanthrene extracted naturally from opium; it can also be produced artificially by the methylation of morphine. Among opiate drugs, codeine is the most frequently consumed around the world, broadly used for its pain relieving, antitussive properties, and its ability to prevent diarrhea. The abuse of codeine products is a major developing general health challenge in numerous nations around the globe, this is because such items are available in the range of over the counter medications (OTC) which are consistently, and easily gotten in the market even without prescription. This paper discuses Codeine and the Preventive measures in mitigating against its Abuse and Misuse. It is a review study in which the prevalence rate of codeine misuse, motives for misuse of codeine, Side effects of codeine abuse and Prevention of codeine abuse was discussed extensively under; Pharmacovigilance, drug education, monitoring and screening. It was concluded that the importance and uses of codeine are numerous, but the abuse of codeine and codeine products, for example the codeine cough syrup is a general health problem all over the world, and it remains necessary that codeine is regulated in each respective countries to reduce the prevalence rate of its misuse and abuse.