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posted by martyb on Sunday November 04 2018, @04:33AM   Printer-friendly
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

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday November 04 2018, @03:37PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday November 04 2018, @03:37PM (#757637) Journal

    Property crime - drugs are insanely expensive due to being illegal. There is no way most habitual users can legally pay for them.

    Close. Some drugs are relatively cheap. But they could make one unemployable, either due to drug testing or turning the user into a wreck.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by deimtee on Sunday November 04 2018, @04:18PM (1 child)

    by deimtee (3272) on Sunday November 04 2018, @04:18PM (#757649) Journal

    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.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @12:06AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @12:06AM (#757787)

      It wasn't too long agobI was buying a bottle of 200 at that price. Brand name: "Assured". At Dollar Tree.