Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Avoid brand-name painkiller, pharmacists told

From CBC News:
Specialists with Nova Scotia's Prescription Monitoring Program are telling pharmacists to use a generic painkiller that is more difficult to abuse than its name brand version.

Dr. Peter MacDougall, an anesthetist and pain management specialist for the Nova Scotia Prescription Monitoring Program, says Dilaudid — the brand-name form of hydromorphone — can trigger a powerful high when it's injected with a needle.

"Dilaudid is a much easier drug to make injectable," he said. "It's easier to crush and to dissolve in a liquid, usually water. The hard-core addicts can then inject that." ...more

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