Codeine is an intense mid-range opioid pain medication, or narcotic. It is typically utilized to manage mild to moderately severe pain after an operation or an injury. It is also used as an alternate when over the counter medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, and paracetamol have proven ineffective. Codeine works by dulling the brain’s pain receptors, and thus raising an individual’s pain tolerance. It is about 1/10th as effective as Morphine, and is rather low on the opioid pain medication strength scale. Despite this, it has proven to be very effective and remains one of the most prescribed pain medications in the United States.