\tFDA: No to Medical Marijuana, Yes to “Super-Vicodinâ€BY RUSS BELVILLE · MON NOV 18, 2013 RSS <div style="margin:0px;"> </div>For years we have been told that raw, crude marijuana plants do not meet the Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) guidelines for a safe, effective medicine. Cannabis remains a Schedule I substance, deemed to have no medicinal value, is dangerously addictive and holds a high potential for abuse. Now, that same FDA has approved a new painkiller called Zohydro. This is a pill that contains 10 times the opioid hydrocodone as found in the often-abused Vicodin. Worse, the drug is the first approved hydrocodone drug that is not cut with acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Unlike the recently reformulated OxyContin, Zohydro does not contain any additives to prevent its users from crushing and snorting or shooting the drug. Abuse concerns led the FDA's Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee to vote 11 to 2 against recommending the drug's approval. But the FDA approved the drug anyway, even though the Centers for Disease Control tell us fatal overdoses from painkillers are reaching epidemic levels in the United States. A global study published in The Lancet found that opioid drugs are the most dangerous in terms of mortality, especially compared to cocaine and marijuana. Americans, comprising less than five percent of the world's population, consume 80% of all opioids and 99% of all hydrocodone. Also raising eyebrows is the company the FDA has approved to produce this new “Super-Vicodin:†Alkermes. In addition to making this powerfully addictive opioid drug, Alkermes makes the popular naltrexone medication Vivitrol, which is used to treat addictions to… wait for it… opioids. Sure, this may be no more shady than cigarette companies that also sell smoking cessation patches, until you find out that Alkermes also financially supports the American Society of Addiction Medicine, aka Big Rehab. When OxyContin first hit the market there was a big spike in addiction problems and experts believe the release of Zohydro will repeat the devastation. Yet even as the current opioids have led to addiction epidemics, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has approved a 1,500% increase in quotas on hydrocodone manufacturing throughout the medical marijuana era. A DEA rep explained that so many pain pills had to be made because there had to be enough left for legitimate patients after all the recreational users had illegally gotten theirs. Too bad that excuse doesn't work for medical marijuana gardens. Cannabis has been shown to work synergistically with opioid painkillers to improve the quality of pain relief and reduce the amount of pills needed. Most clients of the Berkeley Patients Group surveyed said using cannabis allowed them to cut their use of prescription pain killers by up to half. But when there's so much money to be made getting people hooked on synthetic heroin, and money to made on the drug to help them kick it, and money to be made on the rehab treatment, a safer, cheaper, effective, non-addictive herbal alternative is a danger… to your bottom line. "Radical" Russ Belville is the host of The Russ Belville Show, which airs live at 3pm Pacific.
Wow this article sums up how fucking corrupt the FDA and big pharma is. Just WTF Oh and they just had to make a new pain killer. OC addiction crisis all over again. Why am I not surprised.
Why is hydrocodone without acetaminophen a bad thing? Acetaminophen can be pretty hepatotoxic if taken consistently. It can even kill if overdosed on acutely, and it doesn't necessarily take a gross amount more than the therapeutic dose in order to do so. I agree that it's hypocritical regarding marijuana, obviously marijuana's Schedule I classification is ridiculous and unfitting. But this isn't necessarily some horrible, scary new drug. It's not even a new opioid at all. It's basically the hydrocodone (Vicodin, Lortab) equivalent of Oxycontin. They're intended for chronic pain or hospice patients, not for the average Joe who broke his arm or got teeth pulled. These patients, or abusers of the drug, for that matter, won't have the risks associated with taking unnecessary acetaminophen. Patients shouldn't have to worry about prescription pain medications being "cut" because the manufacturers are trying (in vain, may I add) to discourage people from abusing them. I highly doubt many people would abuse Zohydro that aren't already abusing other opiates anyway. Edit: I'll shut up about these drugs now....
It's bad because it will allow people to abuse it more freely. Anyone in their right mind knows acetaminophen in high doses or everyday ingestion is hepatoxic so it would at least ward off some abuse. Someone is way more likely to abuse a high dosed pill of oxycontin than a 5-10mg percoset.
Why haven't we dug up enough dirt on the FDA yet? They're clearly corrupt as hell. On what grounds do they claim their authority to disregard facts, and make decisions which contradict reality?
That's typical FDA bullshit! There are three legal Prescriptions in our pharmacopeia containing cannabis.a fourth- sativex will be approved next year. I imagine it's because they're from big pharma who are probably giving hefty kickbacks. Last year 32,000 Americans died from FDA approved scrips. Not one American died from cannabis. Alone Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Any druggie who gives two shits about their liver is already familiar with cold water extraction, those who don't give a shit, well, don't give a shit. Opioids with added acetaminophen are already common as dirt, it doesn't seem to be warding off very much abuse. Hell, some people still try to inject the shit. Why should people who actually need strong opioids have to take acetaminophen unnecessarily?
Opiates are the most abused drugs in the United States, they are definitely going to abuse them. If there's an 'easier way' to do what they are doing. They will do it. And don't forget opioid prescriptions can be just as addictive as powerful narcotics. Long term treatments have lead to withdrawal symptoms.
Opioids are narcotics by definition, so yeah. And I know about withdrawal from experience, taking them regularly for months after a nasty car accident, my prescription running out, starting to sweat and vomit and hurt after a day, then hitting up my druggie friends for an illegal source. And downhill from there. Various different forms of many opiates and opioids have been produced and sold in the US, has any certain one of them before caused a noticeable increase in rates of addiction or overdose deaths? I've seen addicts do CWEs the way I did, I've seen others toss back a handful of pills with essentially no regard to what they contained, just as long as they would do the job. I've never once seen an addict turn down a painkiller because it contained acetaminophen. Yeah, getting connections to painkillers without it is nice, but do you think not doing so would stop anyone who already has a physical and/or mental dependence to opiates? This new form of the drug is no more inherently dangerous than various other opiate/opioids on the market, or in powder form on the black market. It's not some horror drug that's going to drag herds into addiction, who weren't already on their way, with the many drugs like it. It's just a new form of the drug that's more favorable for people with severe chronic pain, cancer patients, etc. Why not one of the acetaminophen-free painkillers already available? Good question, one I can't really answer. Drug allergies, adverse reactions to other opiates, etc. is my best guess. Of course opiate painkillers are dangerous, and should be respected as such. But this isn't Heroin 2.0 like most people seem to be making it out to be. It's just another one, among many. And might even help a few people who legitimately need something like it.
When i was abusing opiates I didn't know about it and many others did not either. It's not as well known as you think, at least a few years back.
More deaths from prescription painkillers was due to liver failure from the paracetamol. In my experience acetaminophen has no notable effect in comparison. So they're lacing useful chronic pain medication with poison because of it's abuse potential. Some people don't have the common sense to know what they're taking. They get so heavily addicted to the painkiller mixed with paracetamol. Than one time they take too much and end up convulsing on the floor vomiting, and no one is around to help them. Acetaminophen has been shown to cause moderate liver damage at safe doses over a long period of time. So they would rather poison the people who abuse it. Rather than let them experience how bad the addiction can be? It's easier to break than a diacetylmorphine addiction. This drug won't be given to someone who broke their leg. This would be for a chronic pain patient, whose condition affects their life. Like a serious back injury like ruptured disk. The doctors pick out the medication most beneficial to the patient, without adding chances of abuse potential. They use medication safety reasoning to know what would be safest for a patient in their condition.. If they abuse it, it's their fault. But addiction is just as likely to happen to long term chronic pain patients, and they get up to doses past the 100mg a day of Oxycontin. It's very difficult to taper down without doubling the pain they would feel by causing withdrawal.
By far the leading cause of death in opioid related overdoses is the acetaminophen. That and cocktailing it, particularly when mixing them with benzoids. The statistics for this are pretty straight forward. I actually like the fact they are removing the acetaminophen. When companies were forced to put in even more acetaminophen in hydrocodone, there was a spike in overdose cases. They thought it would ward off abuse, when in fact all it did was cause more people to die. Good ol' DEA. That was as good of an idea as when they silently, with no warning, forced pharma companies to change oxy's to a time release formula, one that could not be gotten around by CWE or crushing. The time release matrix was actually in the pill itself, and not the skin. So basically they screwed over those taking it legally, since it was no longer able to help with breakthrough pain. That's the American way, you see...punish the majority for what the minority do. When in all reality people should have free access to these drugs, to do with them as they please.
If you look at it from the pharmaceutical stand point (I do not back pharmacies, I'm just saying since weed is not legal everywhere), it's a much better and safer drug than vicodin. If you use it as prescribed (lol) it is safer for you than vicodin would be, since there isn't that 500/750/1000 mg of acetaminophen in it. Also you can take your medication without worrying about doing a cold water extract to avoid the high tylenol intake. As far as whether or not this should actually be marketed and sold is a different story. This is an addicts dream pill right here, though, to be completely honest. My sister had her foot crushed by a pallet jack a few years back and had vicodin prescribed for pain, she smoked weed but she had nerve damage and it wasn't enough- she even used topicals as well (she also had her med card). She eventually got her settlement taken care of and her surgery out of the way. It went well, she can walk fine, and hasn't had to take any pain meds in OVER A YEAR!! Yay! She does, however, still use marijuana as medication since she is still going through physical therapy. Anyways, that's how I know about cold water extraction to get rid of the nasty acetaminophen. You just end up with a shot of painkiller and you're not doing excess damage to your stomach lining and liver/kidney functions by taking too much tylenol. So as I mentioned, from a doctor standpoint it's more practical than vicodin because there's no tylenol. From an addicts standpoint, it's awesome because you don't have to do anything to extract it to get your product. If you ask me, it's smart that they did this for one reason only... If acetaminophen was an actually useful form of a painkiller, you couldn't grab a bottle of it off the shelf and buy it. So why put it in your overpriced pharms? I guess that's just the world we're kind of stuck in, though. Until we get some people with brains in charge of the FDA, government branches, etc, we kind of just have to deal with it until people really start becoming more lenient about medical marijuana and the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
Creating stronger narcotics is NOT the answer. Morphine was created in part to help opium addiction. Methadone was created to combat heroin addiction . Each "cure" was stronger and more addictive than the one before Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
The FDA is the most corrupt organization in the country. They should all be test subjects in stage III trials. They are also testing 9 cannabis containing meds-some synthetic others use whole plant or meds which will bind to cannibinoid receptor 2. WTF! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
As far as strength goes, hydrocodone is pretty much bottom of the barrel...codeine is really the only one that's weaker. This is a much better alternative to what we have now; hydrocodone laden with acetaminophen. Bottom line is, people are going to follow the money, health concerns be damned. The only sensible thing to do is to give people free access to the safest form of the drug that we can. Then we won't have people going back to heroin because the price of pills is too high, or literally burning themselves up from the inside via hastily and shoddily made desomorphine. This war on drugs has caused an incredible amount of harm to humanity as a whole. Hell, even the immigration crises we are seeing right now is directly linked to this 'war'. It's sickening.
That was essentially my point. A: Acetaminophen is not harmless, and should not be added to medications unnecessarily. And using possible poisoning as threat to deter drug abuse is both rather ineffective, and in my opinion, morally wrong. B: This drug would be prescribed to people with chronic, severe pain, not for minor injuries and aches.
That's America for you. Drug users are demonized to the point where people just don't care if they live or die. It's absolutely disgusting. Just look at states like Texas, where handing out life saving medicine like Narcon will get you thrown in jail. Wonderful isn't it?
article is exaggerating to make a point. theres nothing wrong with zohydro and its actually a benefit to harm reduction in some ways (even to legitimate medical users).