SAMHSA: More now use pain relievers nonmedically

SAMHSA: More now use pain relievers nonmedically

More people initiated nonmedical use of narcotic pain relievers in the past year than initiated use of marijuana or cocaine. This finding comes from a new report from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that extracted data from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The new report, "Nonmedical Users of Pain Relievers: Characteristics of Recent Initiates," shows that 48% of new initiates used Vicodin (acetaminophen/hydrocodone bitartrate, Abbott), Lortab (acetaminophen/hydrocodone bitartrate, Mallinckrodt), or Lorcet (acetaminophen/hydrocodone bitartrate, Mallinckrodt); 34.3% used Darvocet (acetaminophen/propoxyphene napsylate, Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals), Darvon (propoxyphene HCl, Xanodyne), or Tylenol with codeine; 20% used Percocet (acetaminophen/oxycodone HCl, Endo Pharmaceuticals), Percodan (aspirin/oxycodone hydrochloride/oxycodone terephthalate, Endo), or Tylox (acetaminophen/oxycodone HCl, Ortho-McNeil); 18.4% used generic hydrocodone; 14.3% used generic codeine; 8.4% used oxycodone; and 4.3% used morphine. Over half of people who initiated nonmedical use of pain medication (54.9%) in 2004 were female. The report is available at http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/.

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