The situation is Spain

You may be able to buy a box of Codeisan, pure codeine, for about three dollars at some pharmacies. The box, and law, clearly states that a prescription is needed.

The general practice has been to dispense it without a prescription to those not looking like they are going to abuse it.
This changed recently and the common practice for codeine sales, (without prescription and at most pharmacies), is to dispense a box from time to time to customers they know and sometimes to those that they do not know if they look "OK".

As abuse grows... codeine becomes harder to obtain with or without a prescription. Is this a familiar story?

Side Note:
In Spain the prescription drug commercials always end with "consult your pharmacist"