A song released by ARIA award-winning rapper 360, detailing his addiction to codeine and overdose on Nurofen Plus, has sparked calls for stricter regulation on the sale of codeine-based products.

Key points: Rapper 360 details year-long battle with codeine addiction in song called I'm Sorry

Rapper 360 details year-long battle with codeine addiction in song called I'm Sorry Australia remains one of few Western countries to allow over-the-counter sale of codeine

Australia remains one of few Western countries to allow over-the-counter sale of codeine TGA published interim report in 2015 that recommended making codeine-based products prescription only

TGA published interim report in 2015 that recommended making codeine-based products prescription only TGA deferred decision until middle of 2016

Australia is one of the few countries in the Western world that still allows codeine-based products to be sold over the counter and there have been ongoing calls for the drug to be made prescription only.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration just announced that it would defer the final decision on the matter until the middle of 2016

The Melbourne-based rapper, whose real name is Matthew Colwell, posted the song to his social media accounts on the weekend.

In the confessional song I'm Sorry, 360 explained to fans why he pulled out of the last 13 shows of his tour last January.

"If I had nine lives then I'm using them up, no-one knew my addiction it was stupid as f***. "Ninety pills daily of Nurofen Plus..."

The musician admitted he overdosed on the drug.

"I was a zombie, I couldn't feel nothing. I smashed four packets because I just wanted to feel something. "Yo, I overdosed for sure, I was at the venue, I was going to perform, "I can't remember, see I was told in a report my tour manager found me convulsing on the floor..."

360 achieved success as a multi-platinum hip-hop artist with songs Boys Like You and Falling and Flying.

In the song, the rapper said the easy availability of codeine-based drugs made it easy for his addiction to develop.

"That's the thing with a codeine addiction, it's over the counter so you don't need prescriptions."

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Rules around selling codeine 'need to improve'

Dr Suzanne Nielsen, from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said 360's experience was not an uncommon story.

She said Australia was one of the few countries in the Western world where codeine-based products were available over the counter.

"There are only a small number of countries where codeine is available for sale without any prescription," Dr Nielsen said.

"Most countries do have prescriptions for codeine."

Last year the TGA published an interim report which recommended making codeine-based products prescription only.

However in November the TGA decided to defer a final decision on the matter until the middle of 2016.

Any changes would not be brought in until 2017 at the earliest.

Dr Nielsen said she hoped pharmacists would use this time to improve their processes around the sale of codeine products.

"There are a lot of opportunities, the Pharmacy Guild has been looking at a real-time monitoring system which would record codeine sales," she said.

"At the University of New South Wales we've been doing research around brief screenings.

"So pharmacists have a short number of questions that help them identify people having problems.

"I think these are really important steps to be able to more effectively reduce the harm of codeine."

Dr Nielsen said it could be very challenging for pharmacists to talk to people about addiction in the pharmacy setting.

"I do think that we do have a number of opportunities to improve practice in that area."