A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Medicine in Pharmaceutical Affairs Johannesburg, South Africa 2017 / In the Republic of South Africa codeine containing medicines are either sold as prescription only medicines or over the counter depending on the strength of codeine contained in the medicine. The analgesic properties of codeine are thought to be derived from the conversion of codeine to morphine. Codeine is often combined with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).Codeine is a relatively weak opioid analgesic that has seemingly addictive properties; the misuse of codeine-containing-medicines can cause morbidity in patients with known codeine addiction. The Regulation of codeine has been reviewed in a number of countries to try and curb the misuse of the product. This involves the reduction in the strength of codeine, reduction in the package size and duration of treatment of over-the-counter (OTC) codeine containing products and in some countries the OTC codeine containing products have been rescheduled into prescription only medicines. The study aims to monitor and describe trends in the sales of OTC codeine-containing medicines from Pick n Pay retail pharmacies in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces of South Africa from July 2011 to June 2014. Secondary data on the sales of OTC codeine-containing medicines from Pick n Pay Pharmacies database was obtained, which described the(1) pharmacy name, (2) the trade name of the medicine items sold, (3) the quantities of the medicines sold, (4) the purchase date of medicine, (5) the cost of the medicine, (6) the age of the purchaser, (7) the gender of the purchaser and (8) the mode of payment used when purchasing for the study period. A statistical software system, SPSS® version 20 was used to analyse the data. The study findings indicate a steady increase in the sales of the OTC codeine containing medicine over the years. Females were found to be the main purchasers of these products and the age group which purchased most of the products is the 40 to 45 years age group. The top three selling brands of the OTC codeine containing medicines were found to be Genpayne Capsules (30%), Myprodol Capsules (27%) and Mybuline Tablets (14%) of all the sales of these products in the three provinces combined. The mode of payment used for these purchases was mainly cash payment which accounted for sixty-five percent of the payments. There is a need to review the Codeine Car Initiative to monitor and audit the sales of these products so as to make an informed decision on their appropriate regulation. / MT2017