Brewing Bad: The next wave in the opioid abuse epidemic

[drusso]

How should the government regulate "home-brew" morphine?? Is it a drug or a "medicinal food?"

http://www.nature.com/news/drugs-regulate-home-brew-opiates-1.17563

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/h...ine-raises-concerns-over-regulation.html?_r=0

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[Stim4me]

God help this country.... Regulate prescription opioids but allow scheduled drugs to be recreationally manipulated and abused ... Scary.

 

[lobelsteve]

This looks promising. Now put in a radiotracer and let anyone who is an addict have street access and stay out of our offices. Then setup treatment programs for the 10% of the population that needs it.

 

[Ducttape]

Forgive me for asking a rudimentary question, but is it not illegal to possess morphine without a valid prescription?

How does the manner which one obtains the drug in question matter? Buy it off the street, bring it in from a foreign country, steal it from a pharmacy, or brew it. Possession is illegal and punishable.

 

[Promethean]

"Homebrew" is something of a misnomer.

Yes, there are now genetically modified yeast which can produce morphine rather than alcohol. Presumably, they are not going to be released into the wild, nor will cultures be available for sale to the general public. Yes, someone could maybe smuggle out a sample and start up a clandestine lab. But recombinant organisms are nothing new. Where do you think all that insulin comes from? GMOs let us turn biological substrates into organic chemical factories. This strain can produce morphine without having to grow poppies. If the proper controls are maintained, it promises a cheap and efficient means to meet the legitimate need for this drug without creating as many opportunities for illicit production.

But none of that sounds good in a headline. So, great, homebrewed morphine it is.

 

[emd123]

Just more and more reasons to not start opiates if someone's not on them, not dose escalate if they are on opiates, look for reasons to dose reduce if possible, to not go over a conservative limit (120mg MED) and to educate as many patients as possible that the results of opiates may not be worth the trouble they cause.

As a side note: I just just my very last patient who was on > 120mg MED, down to 120 MED.

 

[Promethean]

Just more and more reasons to not start opiates if someone's not on them, not dose escalate if they are on opiates, look for reasons to dose reduce if possible, to not go over a conservative limit (120mg MED) and to educate as many patients as possible that the results of opiates may not be worth the trouble they cause.

As a side note: I just just my very last patient who was on > 120mg MED, down to 120 MED.

As someone who has watched people he loves struggle and even die secondary to iatrogenic opiate addictions, I sincerely thank you for trying to minimize the harmful potential of these problematic wonder drugs.