OFFICIAL NAMES: Codeine, codeine phosphate, codeine sulfate, methylmorphine

STREET NAMES: T–threes, schoolboy, coties, dors and fours, cough syrup, barr (codeine cough syrup), down (codeine cough syrup), karo (codeine cough syrup), lean (codeine cough syrup), nods (codeine cough syrup)

DRUG CLASSIFICATIONS: Schedule II, III, or V, narcotic

Overview

Codeine is classified as an opiate analgesic. Analgesics are substances that, when ingested or injected, diminish or relieve pain; opiates are drugs that can be derived from opium. Opiates, along with opioids, the broader group to which opiates belong, are the most effective of all analgesics. All opioids are analgesics, but most analgesics are not opioids.

Many different drugs act as analgesics. One method of classifying these drugs is to separate them into two groups—those that require a doctor's prescription and those that do not. Medications that do not require a doctor's prescription are called...