Governments love to dress their decisions in the clothes of “public health.” They tell us what’s dangerous, what’s too risky, what must be taken out of our hands for our own good. Yet the very same authorities turn around and sell us poisons by the carton, bottle, and betting slip — as long as they can tax the hell out of it.
Take codeine. For many ordinary people, Panadeine Forte was a lifeline. A middle ground. Stronger than Panadol, not as heavy as morphine. It got people through cracked ribs, torn ligaments, dental agony, and injuries that made you want to scream. Used responsibly, it worked like a miracle.
But in Australia and plenty of other countries, it’s gone — locked behind a doctor’s script. Why? Because a minority misused it. Because the stats looked bad. Because regulators wanted to “save lives.”
Now put that next to cigarettes.
Cigarettes kill outright — millions every year.
They destroy lungs, cause cancer, ruin lives.
Yet you can buy them on every corner, at any hour, as long as you fork out $50 a pack.
Put it next to alcohol.
Responsible for road deaths, violence, cirrhosis, broken families.
Available everywhere, anytime, celebrated as culture.
Put it next to gambling.
Engineered addiction, billions lost, lives shattered.
Promoted on TV during the football.
And then consider this: some governments even legalise euthanasia. They’ll let you choose to end your life, but won’t let you choose a mild opioid to dull your pain without paying a doctor’s gatekeeping fee.
That’s not care. That’s hypocrisy.
The truth is simple: if adults can buy cigarettes, alcohol, and scratchies, they should damn well be trusted to buy codeine. Governments don’t actually care about harm — they care about control and revenue. They let you drink yourself into oblivion and gamble away your house, because the tax stream is fat. But codeine? That doesn’t pay them back. It only “costs the system.” So they shut it down.
The result is predictable:
Responsible people in pain are punished, forced to jump through hoops, wait weeks for GP appointments, and pay out of pocket.
Those who are determined to misuse opioids turn to black markets and stronger drugs — the very danger regulators claimed to be protecting us from.
It’s not health policy. It’s a cynical double standard. A society that lets you smoke yourself to death but won’t let you buy a painkiller is not looking out for you — it’s looking out for itself.
Cigarettes legal. Booze legal. Gambling legal. Euthanasia legal. But codeine? Forbidden.
That’s not protection. That’s betrayal.
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