Editorial: Don't let painkillers that are easy to abuse
Residents can safely dispose of expired or unused medications during a “Shed the Meds” event on Saturday. Credit: Newsday, 2012 / Audrey C. Tiernan
With the nation and the region in the throes of an epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse, it would be derelict beyond belief for federal regulators to approve new versions of narcotics for sale that are not abuse-resistant.
Starting this month, OxyContin, a highly addictive narcotic, will be available in a new generic form. Meantime, the Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to approve a new medication called Zohydro ER, which is the narcotic hydrocodone in an extended release capsule.
Zohydro ER potentially poses an even greater threat of abuse. It would be the first pure hydrocodone available for sale. Its purity would eliminate the risk of liver damage that can result from the long-term use of currently available hydrocodone, which is combined with acetaminophen. Yet it could be 10 times stronger than what's available now -- and that would make it even more attractive to abusers.
An expert advisory panel voted in December that the FDA shouldn't approve Zohydro ER without tamper-resistant formulations. But the FDA isn't bound by that recommendation and could allow the drug to reach the market as early as this summer.
The last thing the nation needs is a flood of powerful narcotics in forms that just invite abuse.
