Panel Wants Ban on Percocet and Vicodin

nytimes.com:

A federal advisory panel voted narrowly on Tuesday to recommend a ban on Percocet and Vicodin, two of the most popular prescription painkillers in the world, because of their effects on the liver.

The two drugs combine a narcotic with acetaminophen, the ingredient found in popular over-the-counter products like Tylenol and Excedrin. High doses of acetaminophen are a leading cause of liver damage, and the panel noted that patients who take Percocet and Vicodin for long periods often need higher and higher doses to achieve the same effect.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[vandegrasse]

Alcohol also affects the liver. And it serves no real purpose. Are they trying to ban that. Hell no! You can buy that particularly devastating poison without a prescription.

[vandegrasse]

Some people are extraordinarily sensitive to pain and need pain medicine at times. And ibuprofen doesn't always do the job.. Why should those people suffer because some people are so stupid they take this stuff for kicks. All medicine affects the liver. All. Of course this stuff shouldn't be taken regularly, but does the government really want people who need it short term to suffer? I guess that's a stupid question.

[brandnewstuff]

I know a group of so called professionals in Victoria Texas that are the BIGGEST Pill heads- They use other people to go to Houston pain clinics get Vicodine and Take six with booze just for FUN... I would love to see those 34 to 38 in age Cry like babies for the drug of choice gone from the shelves...­..........­.lovely!

[gbrooks]

I would not have been able to tolerate a surgery I recently had without vidodin. I don't care if they take out the acetaminophen, but seriously, the serious pain killers? Give me a break.

If any of you have ever had TMJ (I did), muscle relaxants and pain killers are the only way to get through it and actually help it go away faster. It's excruciating.

[PlaceboStudman]

this all would be a lot simpler if the FDA would just reduce marijuana down from a schedule 1 to a schedule 2 drug

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

Marijuana will not relieve severe pain.I think marijuana should be legalized for a lot of other reasons,but this is about relieving pain,nothing else.

[RevRayGreen]

botanical cannabis is a better, safer alternative. Is my medicine that is not a drug legal yet?
not one person ever died from marijuana use or abuse. spin that pigots.

[MorpheusXNYC]

2 weeks.. That's ALL it takes to sustain liver damage from TYLENOL ALONE.

Now try combining that with Percocet..

[CrazyLiberal]

Of course they're going to try to ban it. They'll more than likely succeed in taking off the market.

If people enjoy the high, then, by golly, ban it.

They did the same thing with the Quaalude.

[MrBarkyVonSchnauzer]

nooooooo!

[beanchihuahua]

Well that stinks for the people who are able to take the medications responsibly, instead of those who live on a 30 pill a day habit and drink.

[V4Vigilance]

NOOOOOOOOO­OOOOOOOOOO­OOOOOOOOOO­OOOOOOO...

[NYC-CatLover]

So what are people supposed to take after surgery or having teeth removed? Tylenol really doesn't cut it.

[MorpheusXNYC]

Advil works for me..

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

Advil will do nothing for severe pain.

[BowlingForRevenge]

Well, guess what the drug pushers are stocking up on!
There has to be a better way than this knee jerk reaction.

[MicheleCA]

Why don't they simply eliminate the acetaminophen component?

[JDM73]

Because they want to take all opioids off the market. Acetaminophen is just the excuse.

[angelv]

cuz then it'd be heroin....­.

but seriously.­....the most effective painkillers are opiates, but also addictive and very potentially habit forming. I'm thinking lowering the acetaminophen component? or perhaps stick to asa or ibuprofen combos?