Prepare for codeine ban

DOCUMENTARY maker Louis Theroux has warned Australia to prepare for the consequences of the ban on over-the-counter codeine.

In his new documentary, Heroin Town, Theroux spent time in Huntington, West Virginia, where addiction to opioid painkillers and a crackdown on over-prescription, has pushed many to heroin, and the fatal overdose rate is 13 times the national average.

Australians will soon need prescriptions for painkillers with codeine after a report that accidental deaths from overdoses had doubled since 2007.