Medical prescription in the context of drug prohibition: The example of opiates

Opiates have always occupied a particular place in successive international conventions, from the beginning of the 20th Century to the last with the Convention of 1988. The fundamental criterion for controlling or prohibiting the production and distribution of psychoactive substances considered dangerous was whether or not there were therapeutic uses. If it was decided that cocaine, amphetamines, LSD or even cannabis had no medical application, the same could not be said for opiates because of their central role in the control of pain. Like the ancient Greeks' pharmakon, they were both a remedy and a poison. There are other uses of opiates in medicine as antitussives or anti-diarrheal drugs or as heroin substitution treatments. However, the analgesic properties are crucial.
Let us now turn to the statute of limitations. It can take very different forms, but it necessarily gives access to a legal substance. However, this system differs significantly from access to legal drugs such as tobacco or alcohol. The prescribing doctor and the dispensing pharmacist are placed between the user and the product. They are gatekeepers. This does not mean that access to tobacco or alcohol is totally free: most often, minors do not have access to these substances or the opening hours of pubs are limited or certain behaviors such as public intoxication are repressed. However, within a defined framework, an adult can buy large quantities of alcohol and is not asked if they are used to drinking alcohol or if they are consuming it for the first time. [Extract]