AIMS Many websites provide a means for individuals to share their experiences and knowledge about different drugs. Such User-Generated Content (UGC) can be a rich data source to study emerging drug use practices and trends. This study examined UGC on extra-medical use of loperamide among illicit opioid users. METHODS A website that allows for the free discussion of illicit drugs and is access...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether national drug control laws ensure that opioid drugs are available for medical and scientific purposes, as intended by the 1972 Protocol amendment to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. METHODS The authors examined whether the text of a convenience sample of drug laws from 15 countries: (i) acknowledged that opioid drugs are indispensable for the relief...

Opioid receptors are the sites of action for morphine and the other opioid drugs. Abundant evidence now demonstrates that different opioid receptor types can physically associate to form heteromers. Understandings of the nature, behavior, and role of these opioid receptor heteromers are developing. Owing to their constituent monomers' involvement in analgesia, mu/delta opioid receptor (M/DOR) h...

Three case reports are presented of nalbuphine hydrochloride dependence meeting DSM IIIR and ICD10 criteria for opioid dependence. Nalbuphine hydrochloride is being obtained from illicit sources and used by those using performance enhancing drugs. In some cases this leads to opioid dependence. There is a potential risks of crossover between the misuse of drugs of performance and the misuse of p...

Intrathecal opioids are widely used as useful adjuncts in the treatment of acute and chronic pain, and a number of non-opioid drugs show promise as analgesic drugs with spinal selectivity. In this review we examine the historical development and current use of intrathecal opioids and other drugs that show promise for treating pain in the perioperative period. The pharmacology and clinical use o...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of kappa-opioid receptor agonists on pressor and visceromotor responses to colorectal distension in awake, unrestrained rats, a model of visceral pain. Because visceral pain can be enhanced in the presence of inflammation, the study was conducted in rats that had been given either intracolonic saline or 5% acetic acid 6 hr before drug admi...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the frequency and characteristics of opioid prescribing by multiple providers in Medicare and the association with hospital admissions related to opioid use. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Database of prescription drugs and medical claims in 20% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries in 2010. PARTICIPANTS 1,808,355 Medicare beneficiaries who filled at l...

Repeated injection of opioid analgesics can lead to a progressive loss of effect. This phenomenon is known as tolerance. Several lines of investigations have shown that systemic, intraperitoneal administration or the microinjection of non-opioid analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) into the midbrain periaqueductal gray matter induces antinociception with some effects of to...