Is codeine usable after its expiration date?

[DEViANCE]

Read this from another source, so just a copy and pate of what I found.

Though totally fictitious lets still evaluate it for educations sake

She found some old codeine phosphate that she had being prescribed once for acute back ache.

However the use by date was November last year.
These dates are there for a reason and from research she knows some meds do 'go bad' and have possible toxic effects once the shelf life is overcome.

Anyone have some advice on what the possible adverse effects would be (if any) Codeine after the use by date has expired.

Regards

[Fantasian]

There has already been a thread on Pharms gone bad please UTFSE.

There is a two side arguement on this, one is that the pharmacology companies purposes cut the sell by date short in order to get more money from the consumer and in attual fact the drug stays active and unchanged for many years.

The other arguement is that certain binders in pills can deteriorate and cause some toxic problems with age. Decide for yourself, when it comes to codeine SWIF thinks it isnt really worth the risk...

[Forthesevenlakes]

swim will make a couple quick comments on this...

1. the codeine is probably still okay. swim has taken expired meds before and other painkillers, eg morphine will stay good up to decades after manufacturing. if they are kept in a dark, dry place so much the better.

2. however, the acetaminophen, or other binders in there MAY deteriorate. this may take a while. but why take chances? swim knows that aspirin deteriorates for sure over time. he imagines acetaminophen COULD but not necessarily that it will. but like swif says, its just codeine and probably not worth the risk...

[DEViANCE]

Many thanks for the replies.

Probability states that this or a similar thread to this has been created and discussed though a search could not yield it. But several attempts were made.

Secondly, apparently these are just straight codeine phosphate 15mg.

[Forthesevenlakes]

yeah, the search terms can be a bit abstruse at times as to what will yield what you're looking for.

if theyre just straight codeine phosphate, theyd probably be okay...but dont tell any swiys to go do it just cuz swim says theyre probably fine.