The push to make codeine painkillers such as Nurofen Plus and Panadeine Extra prescription-only unfairly punishes people who want flexibility in managing their pain, says a consumer group.
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The Therapeutic Goods Administration will recommend that codeine products be up-scheduled from over-the-counter in a bid to curb alarming rates of abuse, addiction and overdose.
Its interim decision announced on Thursday was welcomed by the Australian Medical Association and the Australian College of General Practitioners, which both said it would prevent "accidental addicts" and "save lives".
But the Consumer Health Forum of Australia said it would not eliminate the risk of misuse and abuse and punish consumers who need to manage their pain.
Around one in five Australians lives with chronic pain, and this figure rises to one in three for people over 65 years of age.
"We believe the majority of users, particularly those using it for ongoing or chronic pain, are using responsibly, and they would be unnecessarily penalised by this move," said Jo Root, acting chief executive of the forum.
"All of these people are looking for safe and appropriate access to effective medicines to deal with the pain," she said.
She said codeine products needed to remain affordable and readily available.
Popular codeine products include Codral Original Cold and Flu Tablets, Aspalgin Soluble tablets and Mersyndol.
"At a time when we know one in 10 people do not go to the doctor because of cost, and that many people have difficulty accessing a doctor when they need to, this move would deny many people access to much needed pain relief."
Ms Root also said even if the drug was rescheduled, abusers and addicts could still "doctor shop" for prescriptions.
The forum recommends the federal government establish a plan to stop codeine abuse, which would include real-time recording of purchasers, better risk warnings on packaging, and well-funded community education programs.
The TGA will accept submissions on its interim ruling before it makes the final decision in late November. The tighter controls could come into effect from June next year.
Its report said codeine is "potentially capable of producing dependence and, in overdose, respiratory depression and reduced level of consciousness."
The Australian Self Medication Industry said pharmacists were doing an adequate job.
"This decision disregards the expertise of pharmacists and their important role in the frontline of primary care," said its chief executive, Deon Schoombie.
"It will also increase the workload of doctors and create greater inefficiencies in an already over-strained primary health system."
But Irvine Newton, chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society's harm minimisation group, said pharmacists have faced abuse when questioning big purchases of tablets.
He said having codeine products available in pharmacies had "been a disaster by any stretch of the imagination".
The number of Australians being treated for codeine addiction more than tripled over the decade to 2012-13, from 318 to more than 1000 a year.
Codeine is not available over the counter in the US, most of Europe, Hong Kong, India and Japan, but about 1.3 million packets are sold at pharmacies around Australia every month.
