Feds Resist Control for 2nd Most-Abused Pain Drug

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — It is the nation's second-most abused medicine, linked to murders, celebrity overdoses and a rising tide of violent pharmacy robberies. But since 1999 federal regulators have put off deciding whether to tighten controls over hydrocodone, the addictive narcotic that is the key ingredient in Vicodin and other medicines.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and Food and Drug Administration insist they are still actively studying whether to move hydrocodone-containing medicines from the Schedule III category of medicines to the more restrictive Schedule II. But the 12-year delay is frustrating drug treatment counselors, lawmakers and relatives of overdose victims.

"They're not doing a darn thing," said Robert DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, a Rockville, Md.-based think tank. "There's no study that takes 12 years. When you think how many people have died of hydrocodone overdoses, it's inexcusable."

Nationally, emergency room visits related to non-medical hydrocodone use have quadrupled since 2000 — from 19,221 to 86,258 in 2009. In Florida alone, hydrocodone caused 910 deaths and contributed to 1,803 others between 2003 and 2007. Actors Heath Ledger, Brittany Murphy and Corey Haim all died from drug cocktails containing it.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/08/20/business/AP-US-Addictive-Painkiller.html?pagewanted=all

I am allergic to most pain pills. I get a rash and vomit uncontrollably but I can take vicodin. I took an oxycontin once and threw up for two days straight and flushed the rest of the rx down the john.
I don't need it often but when I do it is a life saver for me. I get monster migraines.

The "sets", percoset, darvoset, mess me up in a big way. I can'r function at all if I take that stuff. Vicodin takes away my pain and I can still function.

conditions and chronic pain. Some of us cannot take other pain medication. Thankfully, I haven't needed it in a couple of years, but if I do in the future it'd be nice to know that it's still available to people that really need it.

my mother has metal rods in her back from multiple back surgeries because of a slipped disc that turned degenerative ..

all her surgeon here (in ky) would give her afterward were about a month worth of lortab 5mgs and then down to tylenol 3 , which she is still on and frankly does nothing for her pain as far as i can tell.

its sad.

i can almost bet you , though, that i could run down the street to a girl i know and have some oxycontin in under an hour, yet my mom cant get better than tylenol 3 for back surgery. its a joke.

i wish there were better alternatives out there, but right now narcotics are the bees knees for pain..

I've been able to start working out, and go back to work, since I've been on one. Hardly ever need to resort to Vicodin.

for breakthrough pain.

I am also on Savella which is an SNRI. I think it's helped to a point.

I'm now on Tramadol 50 3x and it helps, but my pain is so persistent and severe that I fear I will be getting into something stronger.

I have a herniated L5-S1, facet joint arthritis, stenosis and spondylisthesis (slipped) L3-L4. The pain is constant and is really ruining my life. I can't sit, stand or walk anymore.

assuming you mean selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors like Paxil.

I would rather risk opium addiction than take SSRIs, until I see a mountain of evidence that they've been re-engineered to fix the suicide issue.

is a schedule III? Are these people nuts?

The fed hasn't been willing to reclassify it despite 1/4 of these United States presently regulating it for medical purposes. Based on the fed criteria:
1) the drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
2) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
3) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.
Based on what we know and observe regarding cannabis, you'd almost think there's an ulterior motive on the part of the government and a serious lack of honesty.

But we do need more research on what kind of treatments work best for pain pill addiction...as well as all other addictions. What we don't need is continued 'war on drugs' mentality.

I don't know about Haim, but Brittney had been complaining of flu-like symptoms for days before her death, and the post-mortem toxicological tests confirmed that the traces of drugs in her system were consistent with treatment for a respiratory infection, and in no way caused her death.

Or are you also going to tell me that Cass Elliot choked on a ham sandwich, and Jim Morrison died of an overdose? For the record, Ms. Elliot had a heart attack, and Morrison died of a congenital heart defect.

As a once-upon-a-time hospice nurse, and a current chronic pain patient, I'm concerned that tighter controls on mild narcotics like Vicodin will make it very difficult to treat patients in pain. I'm glad I have that bottle of Vicodin in the medicine chest, for the one or two days/month when my pain gets out of control.

that I might have to pay a co-pay each month just to get meds. I take one hydrocodone every 4-5 days at night when my back gets to hurting so bad I can't sleep. There are those abusers out there and I once had a pharmacist steal 40 pills out of my prescription. My script is for 60 pills at each refill. Needless to say the woman lost her job and others who worked in the pharmacy along with her. Scripts were supposed to be filled in pairs with one watching the other. This wasn't being done and I suspect this was not her first theft. 40 hydrocodone pills is one heck of a lot of pills to steal if you ask me. I moved the script over to Walgreens and never have had any problems since.

Thank God the FDA has held off them off this long.

It is deeply immoral to intentionally make it difficult or impossible for people in pain to get effective pain meds.

These bozos want to make it worse? Aren't they happy making me jump through hoops for fucking Sudafed?

We already have chronic pain of which has ruined our lives in so many ways. All we want is to be able to function,to sleep at night,be able to cope during the day. We are not looking for a party. We are already in a party,one of which Mr. DuPont has no comprehension of. If he wants to see inexcusable he should see me up all night in agony,in bad enough shape that I can hardly get in our truck to go to wound care. Instead of condemning us to keep having fewer options just to exist their scope should be on the party animals,the Hollywood heavy hitters,the abusers of all pain killers. I don't see anyone saying a word when a alcoholic causes a crash that we should make it more difficult to get booze. People abuse all kinds of drugs. They started with hobby glue,whipped cream canisters,and worked their way up the chain. From cough meds to laxatives they use and abuse at all. Each time it makes it more difficult for the average consumer who needs these products but no group gets leaned on as much as those that need these meds. :grr:

Let addicts and recreational users have access to pure heroin with clean needles.
This approach has solved the problem in Switzerland.

People in pain should have unimpeded access to the pain pills they need.

But since this is the USA, common sense will not prevail.

Swiss approve prescription heroin

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7757050.stm

Is that many people need the drug to function.

Making life more difficult for people who need the prescription and will use it responsibly in order to (hopefully) control risks to drug abusers is not a win-win situation.

A Class II narcotic would force people to go to the doctor every month to get a written prescription, so it would raise costs to the persons who must rely on it.

I've been on several different pain medicines over the last five years. I've had to visit a doctor monthly to obtain a prescription for Vicodin or hydrocodone. Doctors treat people like junkies, I feel like a freakin criminal. In spite of multiple xrays and MRIs of chronic permanent conditions I'm subjected to random drug tests, suspected of being "drug abuser" "drug seeker", and virtually interrogated during office visits.

There is no dignity in this process. I most certainly don't feel "free". And the DEA has doctors petrified of losing their licenses. Law enforcers telling docs how to treat people.