Thank you for your work, Scott. Your treatment is unfortunately typical. This is one of the ways that the machine protects itself, ranging from plain censorship to damaging a person through professional channels. Physical threats are unusual these days and are, in my opinion, usually a consequence of personal weaknesses in some of the low level actors involved in the censorship.

It has probably occurred to you that there is corruption behind what has happened, probably originating in the pharmaceutical sector. It may not have occurred to you to consider the possibility that there is nothing BUT corruption in the analogous levels of literally every institution.

Clearly, those who want you silenced do not want ordinary people to be able to obtain even comparatively low potency examples of opioid-type pain relief via the OTC (over the counter) route which, by definition, does not require a prescription. But, why do they want OTC codeine preparations gone?

The answer most people would give is money. Instead of a non-prescription, off-patent drug, which is relatively cheap, so the argument goes, the patient will approach their doctor and be given a prescription for a patented drug, which will be much more expensive.

I do think some of this would happen in a setting in which OTC codeine was withdrawn.

However, I going to get more conspiratorial than your entirely reasonable expectation.

I think that the primary motivation is a desire for control over individuals.

On the money side, if OTC codeine is not available, I doubt that many people would go to see their doctor. Many would, I expect, be inclined to find a substitute such as illegal opioids, anxiolytics and alcohol, none of which would increase revenue for the pharmaceutical company manufacturing the prescription-only opioid preparations.

Note also that sales revenue lost as a result of OTC codeine having been withdrawn is a revenue loss to that generics company. Across a nation, that’s a substantial loss.

Of those who would seek a doctors appointment, how many would be written a prescription for a proprietary, expensive opioid drug? In U.K., I don’t know if general practitioners can no longer write new prescriptions for opioids, but my knowledge suggests that routinely they do not.

Instead, the patient is referred to a “Pain clinic”, if they are using the public health system. These pain clinics do everything they possibly can to not prescribe opioids. They’ll recommend you try everything else but that. If you’re able to bypass the public system, you can swiftly see a Pain consultant. If they assess your need is for a prescription opioid, they will write the prescription.

I’d be interested to know what exactly have been the financial dynamics of OTC opioids and prescription opioids before & after a withdrawal of the OTC formats.

Under the new arrangements, people with mild to moderate chronic pain have either got to put their hand in their own pocket to get a swift assessment by a pain consultant. They won’t all get a prescription, though probably more will than hitherto, with the OTC codeine option no longer available. Pain consultants have tremendous power, but they’re extremely aware that they must use this power judiciously, for fear they could easily get into trouble with their regulatory body if they are judged to be over-prescribing strong opioids.

Some of us anticipate that one of the leverage points that governments everywhere are going to use to coerce people into taking on a wholly unnecessary and yet malign digital ID is prescription medications. Even if your initial reaction was correct and money is a factor, I believe we should definitely not ignore the control potential as seen by those I call “The Useless Eliters”.

I sincerely wish you a free and peaceful existence.

Thanks again for your rectitude and courage in exposing this odd behaviour by the authorities.

Mike