Codeine linctus and Benylin cocktails all round!

Oh hang on. Hold that order - the nanny state says no! Well, says maybe. Well...doesn't say much really.

BBC NEWS | Health | Pain drugs get addiction warning

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I see good people

Codeine probably should carry a warning that it's addictive, because it is addictive.

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A fool may ask questions a wise man cannot answer.

true say.

Does alcohol have an addiction warning on it? I think it probably should.

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I see good people

Mmmm codeine: smoke:

Maybe not, because everybody knows alcohol is addictive.

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A fool may ask questions a wise man cannot answer.

I've got a bottle of about 40 tablets 30/500 Co-codamol next to my keyboard here on the desk and in the medicine cabinet there are nearly a hundred 30mg codeine tablets, some getting near their use by date.

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The Cardiomyopathy Association a heart muscle research leader
http://www.cardiomyopathy.org

Accelerated ageing made easy

Better get stuck in before they go bad.

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A fool may ask questions a wise man cannot answer.

Serious Q: Do [prescription] drugs really go 'off'? You can tell with many foods when they're well past their use by, but what about chemicals - do they evaporate out of the pills?

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Argue with me: http://the-ride-info.blogspot.com/

Best make them prescription only, that way the Govt will get a cut to buy back the UK from the Chinese.

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http://www.therevcounter.com/uk-moto...ty-thread.html
The Security Thread...up there ^^^^

One day we will sail out on the ocean and become a small floating country.

I don't know if oxidisation goes on, but I don't see why they should last indefinitely in the atmosphere, everything else breaks down.

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The Cardiomyopathy Association a heart muscle research leader
http://www.cardiomyopathy.org

Accelerated ageing made easy

Until recently I'd never taken anything stronger than a couple of Paracetemol, but, after cracking a couple of ribs in a fall from a ladder, I needed somethign stronger just to be able to sleep. Codeine Phosphate 30/500 are brilliant . Not only the pain from the ribs disappeared, but the old age pains (backache, knee pains etc.) also went away. I can understand why they'd be not only physically addictive but psychologically as well.

pain is optional. Brilliant innit?

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I see good people

Fair cop, I wouldn't expect future archeologists to be finding useful Anadin

And I can understand, from contamination PoV, why 'use within 4 weeks of opening' might make sense.

But out-of-date paracetamol and anti-histamines? Or anything in 'syrup' form

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Argue with me: http://the-ride-info.blogspot.com/

Good question. The legal requirement is (something like) that a medication has to have 95% of its original efficacy at the sell-by date. There are medications where this happens more quickly but it depends upon storage conditions; I reckon that is probably far more important than the time factor.

Also, some medicines, especially injections, are stored as powder to be mixed with water or saline etc., and those meds can go off very fast once mixed up - hours to minutes in some cases, but those are not the subject of your question I suppose.

<Edit: the fact that many medicines have a standard instruction to use within four weeks of opening is probably irrelevant to tablets, but stuff like eye drops can become contaminated with nasty bacteria that could seriously aggravate an eye condition for example.>

To add to that special codeine experience, don't forget that it is one of the greatest constipating agents known to man

And prolly women as well...