Dr Ben Tscharke from UQ’s Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences spoke with Brisbane Times about the decline in codeine use in Australia following bans of over- the-counter sales.
Scientists from The University of Queensland and the University of South Australia found a 37 per cent drop in use on average across Australia after bans were put in place.
Dr Tscharke said they were able to get accurate figures on the drop through in-depth analysis of wastewater sites around the country.
“Over the course of a three-year period [August 2016 and August 2019], we were able to analyse samples for codeine,” Dr Tscharke said.
“That allowed us to get a very accurate picture of how the changes happened around the new regulation.”
The research also featured in InQueensland.
