[contingencies]

Thanks for sharing your father's story. Luckily my pain isn't chronic level, so I am tapering off already after a few days. My heaviest use is 6-8 OTC pills over 24 hours, probably not considered out of normal. Personally, however, I'm for OTC codeine. It costs nothing to produce, is stupendously effective, and the only problem is potential addiction (the least of all opiates IIRC) which is basically a non-issue with (cheap) supply.

[stordoff]

I'm also in favour of OTC codeine with appropiate box warnings etc. (it works very well for me [currently prescribed], and the difference between an analgesic dose and a fatal dose is fairly wide - 15-60mg vs 100s mg). That said, calling potential addiction a non-issue is a little on the optimistic side. Codeine combinations (with ibuprofen or paracetamol/acetaminophen) are OTC in the UK, and problematic addictions (ever-increasing doses, dependence, impacts on work/family) are certainly not unheard of.