A little over a century ago drugs such as cocaine and concoctions containing powerful opiates were available across the counter, or on prescription, from pharmacies across the western world.
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Headache powders fortified with phenacitin, an addictive pain killer linked to an epidemic of kidney cancer, were freely sold in this country until 1977.
Cold and flu tablets containing more than 800mg of pseudoephedrine, a precursor that could be used in the manufacture of amphetamine-like substances, were freely available across the counter at Australian pharmacies until 2006.
In all of these cases a growing awareness of their harmful side effects, which often included addiction and death, led to them being banned or heavily regulated.
The complaints they were originally used to treat are now being dealt with by equally effective, and much safer, alternatives.
Few, if any, people with specialist medical training would suggest we should reverse any of these decisions.
The over-the-counter ban on low-dose codeine products that came into effect nationally on Thursday, is very much in this tradition.
Hundreds of Australians have died as a result of overdosing on legal opioids over the past decade. In the United States, more than 183,000 people have died from overdoses since the year 2000.
The ban, of course, has its critics. One of those is the president of the NSW branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Peter Carroll, who does not dispute codeine abuse can lead to addiction and death, but argues low-dose codeine products should be available without prescription.
Given all products containing codeine, regardless of the size of the dose, have warnings saying they should not be used for more than three days in a row and that if the pain persists you should see a doctor, the objections to making them prescription only are hard to fathom.
No chronic pain sufferer should go down the self-medication route.
They should work out a pain management plan in conjunction with their GP or a specialist.
Many users are unhappy with this change, and will find it frustrating.
But if the imposition of this inconvenience saves people from addiction and possibly even death, then the exercise has been well worthwhile.