Codeine in France: the 2017 rule and the 2025 tightening

France's medicines agency, ANSM, has tightened codeine in two steps.

2017 — prescription only. In ANSM's words: “Depuis 2017, tous les médicaments contenant de la codéine sont soumis à une prescription médicale” — since 2017, every medicine containing codeine requires a prescription. There is no over-the-counter codeine in a French pharmacy.

1 March 2025 — secure prescription and a time limit. ANSM's notice of 26 February 2025 confirmed that from that date, medicines containing tramadol, codeine or dihydrocodeine must be prescribed on an ordonnance sécurisée — a secure, tamper-resistant prescription form. At the same time, the maximum prescription length for codeine and dihydrocodeine was cut to 12 weeks, matching tramadol.

The change was originally due on 1 December 2024 and was postponed to give doctors and pharmacies time to switch over. ANSM's stated reason for the whole sequence is misuse, dependence and falsified prescriptions.

Sources: ANSM — Tramadol et codéine devront être prescrits sur une ordonnance sécurisée (published 26 September 2024, updated 28 November 2024) and ANSM's follow-up notice of 26 February 2025 confirming entry into force on 1 March 2025, both read 6 October 2026.

ANSM's guidance sets out what changed for prescribers, pharmacists and patients:

• doctors must write codeine on a secure prescription, with the dosage, posology and treatment length written out in words
• for any new prescription, pharmacists may dispense codeine only against a secure prescription
• a codeine prescription is valid for 12 weeks — three months — at most, and a new prescription is needed to continue

Prescriptions written before 1 March 2025 stayed valid to the end of the prescribed treatment, but cannot be renewed in the old format.

For a resident on longer-term pain treatment, the practical effect is a rhythm: a doctor's appointment at least every three months, and a secure form each time. It is not a ban. It is a supply that now depends on staying in touch with a French prescriber.

Three things to settle before you arrive rather than after.

Do not expect to buy it over the counter. If you are used to picking up a low-dose codeine painkiller in a pharmacy at home, that option does not exist in France and has not since 2017.

Do not assume a foreign prescription will be filled. ANSM's rule is that codeine is dispensed only against a secure prescription written by a doctor. Its notice does not say whether a prescription written abroad will be accepted, and we will not guess — plan as though you will need a French doctor to write it.

Bring enough to bridge the gap, legally. Arriving with your own supply and the original prescription buys time to register with a doctor. Our guide to bringing medication to France covers what to carry and the paperwork for controlled medicines.

Nothing here is medical advice. Whether codeine remains the right treatment, and what replaces it if not, is a decision for your doctor.

On the plans we arrange, the Prescribed Medication benefit is:

• Major Medical — no cover
• Standard — US$750
• Comprehensive — US$750
• Fully Comprehensive — full cover

The harder limit is what the medicine is for. If you take codeine for a condition you already had before joining, pre-existing conditions are excluded, and chronic conditions are excluded unless the plan includes a Chronic Conditions benefit. Ongoing treatment for a long-standing condition is, in most cases, your own cost — wherever in France the prescription is written.

Where a plan does earn its place is the gap: private consultations in your first months, before public registration is complete, are when a French prescription actually gets written. The cover we arrange is worldwide — the United States is the one exception.