December 26, 2011

Drug Companies Develop More Powerful Pain Drug

Sounds like the model for psychiatric drugs. If you stop taking them you don't just get sick, you become violent.

[From article]
"Hydrocodone belongs to family of drugs known as opiates or opioids because they are chemically similar to opium. They include morphine, heroin, oxycodone, codeine, methadone and hydromorphone.

Opiates block pain but also unleash intense feelings of well-being and can create physical dependence. The withdrawal symptoms are also intense, with users complaining of cramps, diarrhea, muddled thinking, nausea and vomiting.

[. . .]

"You've got a person on your product for life, and a doctor's got a patient who's never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn't get their prescription, they would feel very sick," said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. "It's a terrific business model, and that's what these companies want to get in on."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20111226/D9RSBNF01.html

New powerful painkiller has abuse experts worried
AP
Dec 26, 1:23 PM (ET)
By CHRIS HAWLEY

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