SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the need-more-opioids-to-fight-the-opioid-epidemic dept.
FDA approves powerful new opioid in 'terrible' decision
The Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful new opioid Friday, despite strong criticism and accusations that it bypassed its own advisory process to do it.
The new drug, Dsuvia, is a tablet that goes under the tongue. It is designed for use in the battlefield and in other emergency situations to treat intense, acute pain.
Known generically as sufentanil, it's a new formulation of a drug currently given intravenously. Critics say it will be incredibly easy for health workers to pocket and divert the drug to the illicit drug market and because it is so small and concentrated, it will likely kill people who overdose on it.
"This is a dangerous, reckless move," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe senior adviser of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. He questions whether there's need for yet another synthetic opioid when the U.S. is in the throes of an opioid overdose crisis.
Sufentanil is described as 5 to 10 times more potent than fentanyl and 500 times as potent as morphine. Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, but is only approved for the veterinary use of tranquilizing large animals. Sufentanil is the strongest opioid painkiller available for use in humans.
Cannabis and kratom? Exercise caution!
Also at STAT News, NPR, and The Hill.
See also: People on front lines of epidemic fear powerful new drug Dsuvia
Related:
Opioid Addiction is Big Business
Heroin, Fentanyl? Meh: Carfentanil is the Latest Killer Opioid
Study: Legal Weed Far Better Than Drug War at Stopping Opioid Overdose Epidemic
President Trump Declares the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency
Study Finds Stark Increase in Opioid-Related Admissions, Deaths in Nation's ICUs
FDA Blocks More Imports of Kratom, Warns Against Use as a Treatment for Opioid Withdrawal
Opioid Commission Drops the Ball, Demonizes Cannabis
U.S. Life Expectancy Continues to Decline Due to Opioid Crisis
FDA Labels Kratom an Opioid
Two More Studies Link Access to Cannabis to Lower Use of Opioids
"Synthetic Opioids" Now Kill More People than Prescription Opioids in the U.S.
U.S. Opioid Deaths May be Plateauing
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Sunday November 04 2018, @01:11PM (10 children)
The problem is that painkillers in tablets are generally provided along with other ingredients designed to force the drug to be slowly dissolved over time. This allows the painkiller to last over a few hours.
However, people that want to take them for recreation are interested in getting a high and the intentional extended release period is counter productive to getting the full effect of a single dose all at once. They are forced to either taking multiple doses at once or crush the pills into a fine powder to release the active ingredients all at once. Either is very dangerous.
So, even if commercial packages were legally available, people looking to get high are still forced to follow risky behavior in order to get their fix. While I would not say it is a smart thing for them to do, I would not characterize it as suicide either.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 3, Interesting) by deimtee on Sunday November 04 2018, @02:12PM (7 children)
You are still thinking within the "drugs are bad mmmkay" paradigm and not following this to its logical conclusion. Legally available drugs for getting high would not have the time delay built into therapeutic drugs. You would buy whatever variant you wanted.
Almost every bad effect of illegal drugs can be traced to the fact that they are illegal:
Drug crimes - a tautology. they are illegal because they are illegal.
Property crime - drugs are insanely expensive due to being illegal. There is no way most habitual users can legally pay for them.
Violence - mostly goes along with the desperation that drives addicts into property crime.
Prostitution - One of the few ways to actually earn enough money to pay for illegal drugs.
Gang violence - drugs are a huge illicit revenue source. Of course criminal gangs will move in and fight over it.
Overdoses - almost entirely due to shoddy quality control.
Drugged driving - should be handled the same way you handle drunk-driving.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday November 04 2018, @03:37PM (2 children)
Close. Some drugs are relatively cheap. But they could make one unemployable, either due to drug testing or turning the user into a wreck.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by deimtee on Sunday November 04 2018, @04:18PM (1 child)
Heroin is about as cheap and easy to make as aspirin. I can buy 36 x 500mg aspirin tablets for 99 cents.
If you are going to sit around on welfare and get wasted every day, I would rather you do it without having to break into houses or mug people in the park.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @12:06AM
It wasn't too long agobI was buying a bottle of 200 at that price. Brand name: "Assured". At Dollar Tree.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 04 2018, @04:16PM (1 child)
Sitting in the park shitting yourself after taking drugs. Doesn't matter if the drug is legal or not. Still there. Still have shit running down your leg. Stupid junkie.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @03:29AM
Too close to the truth. People don't want to hear the truth.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 04 2018, @07:38PM (1 child)
This! The best drug law (the only one that works) is the Pure Food & Drug Act of 1907. It required proper labeling and drove the medicine show con artists out of business. It is not a criminal law. The black market for drugs causes all sorts of bad consequences. The black market for any drug must go. How? Lower the price and profits. Legalize. Law enforcement is a price-support mechanism. They love their little war.
Search for "whitebread speech", best history of drug laws I've seen anywhere.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday November 05 2018, @06:32PM
First you have to define what "working" is.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday November 04 2018, @05:39PM
The thing is, they're going to do that with whatever form of opioid they can obtain. That may either be an exact and well regulated dose or some random powder of unpredictable strength.
Neither is safe, but the latter is vastly more likely to kill them than the former.
Making the former legally available won't prevent all deaths but leaving them with only the latter will cause more deaths.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by EETech1 on Sunday November 04 2018, @07:29PM
If I was to crush up and snort a couple of oxycodone pills, I know exactly what I'm in for.
If I was to crush up and snort a bindle of heroin I bought from a junkie, not so much...
The measured dose is what allows you to safely enjoy your vise, and the lack of crime involved with getting it from the pharmacy will go a long way towards not destroying lives, both physically, and financially.
Drugs are a slippery slope, but some people like to ride it.
But it's no different than any other dangerous recreational activity, if you give them the tools to do it safely.
Some people wanna climb rocks, some people wanna smoke rocks.
Why is it ok to be "addicted" to rock climbing, searching for higher and higher peaks to conquer?
You're literally one mistake from death, risking it all for the thrill of it.
Not thinking about anyone but yourself, and what you want to do.
If someone wants to tweak out on amphetamines, why should their passion for smoking rocks, and taking the same risk of death as the rock climber be treated any differently? Why do we not allow them the gear to do it safely?
Why do we put one of them in jail? Both the climber and the smoker just wanna get high, but we treat them so differently.