Anyone who supplies the substance without prescription can be fined $10,000 (HKD). The maximum penalty for trafficking or manufacturing the substance is a $5,000,000 (HKD) fine and life imprisonment. Possession of the substance for consumption without license from the Department of Health is illegal with a $1,000,000 (HKD) fine and/or 7 years of jail time. However, codeine is available without prescription from licensed pharmacists in doses up to 0.1%: Schedule 1, Part IV, paragraph 23  (i.e. 5 mg/5ml): Section 3, (1) (a)

India
Codeine preparations require a prescription in India. A preparation of paracetamol and codeine is available in India. Codeine is also present in various cough syrups as codeine phosphate including chlorpheniramine maleate. Pure codeine is also available as codeine sulphate tablets. Codeine containing cough medicine has been banned in India with effect from 14 March 2016. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has found no proof of its efficacy against cough control. Iran
Preparations of codeine in Iran normally comes with paracetamol or guaifenesin, and can be purchased over-the-counter. Pure codeine is also available as codeine phosphate 30 mg tablets and special permit required to purchasing. Irans deputy health minister reported that codeine combinations is Irans best selling OTC medication. Ireland
In Ireland, new regulations came into effect on 1 August 2010 concerning codeine, due to worries about the overuse of the drug.
Rapper Pimp C, from the group UGK, died from an overdose of this combination.Codeine is used in illegal drug laboratories to make morphine. Detection
Codeine and its major metabolites may be quantitated in blood, plasma or urine to monitor therapy, confirm a diagnosis of poisoning or assist in a medico-legal death investigation. Drug abuse screening programs generally test urine, hair, sweat or saliva. Many commercial opiate screening tests directed at morphine cross-react appreciably with codeine and its metabolites, but chromatographic techniques can easily distinguish codeine from other opiates and opioids. It is important to note that codeine usage results in significant amounts of morphine as an excretion product. Furthermore, heroin contains codeine (or acetyl codeine) as an impurity and its use will result in excretion of small amounts of codeine. Poppy seed foods represent yet another source of low levels of codeine in ones biofluids. Blood or plasma codeine concentrations are typically in the 50–300 µg/L range in persons taking the drug therapeutically, 700–7,000 µg/L in chronic users and 1,000–10,000 µg/L in cases of acute fatal over dosage.Codeine is produced in the human body along the same biosynthetic pathway as morphine. Urinary concentrations of endogenous codeine and morphine have been found to significantly increase in individuals taking L-DOPA for the treatment of Parkinsons disease. Legal status
Around the world, codeine is, contingent on its concentration, a Schedule II and III drug under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.