Routes of Opioid Abuse and its Novel Deterrent Formulations

Despite the development and approval of abuse deterrent medications aiming to decrease the misuse of prescription opioids, abuse remains prevalent in the United States (U.S.) and abroad. Additionally, abusers have refined their tampering methods in order to bypass the advanced deterrent mechanisms of these novel formulation technologies [1,2]. Tampering with a medication can be done to assist in the separation and harvesting of the active ingredient, allow for administration by alternate routes, destroy controlled release mechanisms, or for a combination of these reasons. Due to their prevalence, these forms of tampering are often done to oral opioid products, allowing for administration via nasal insufflation, smoking (inhalation by vaporization), rectal, and intravenous injection. These alternate routes of administration (ROA) may vary depending on the abusable medication and a particular product formulation type. Additionally, the likelihood to use non-oral routes of abuse can be dependent on age, ethnicity, and substance abuse dependence [3].