ive got a paper ive got to write for the start of this coming semester at school and the topic is prescription drugs and their recreational abuses. ive been doing some reading on oxycontin, which is one of the drugs im going to discuss due to its popularity and i noticed a mention that one method of taking it recreationally is by grounding it up and taking it orally. it said that this provided an instant high as opposed to the controlled release when in pill form but thats all it said. im basically wondering what other effects it has when taken by this method. higher risks of negative reaction due to the medicine coming in a rush rather than overtime? would all the effects of taking it in regular pill form be amplified? any answers would be greatly appreciated. thank you in advance.
2007-08-08 21:21:18 · 7 answers · asked by kewlrocker0485 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
2 things: the pill has a coating that dissolves in the stomach slowly
also, by grinding it up you are exponentially increasing the surface area of the drug that comes in contact with the receptors in your body
2007-08-08 21:30:09 · answer #1 · answered by dickdamick 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the pill is ingested as a solid whole, it has to dissolve before all the medical active ingredient can enter into the system. So that, say, only 10% of the active medicinal ingredient enters the blood stream per 15 minutes (or something like that I don't know the real numbers). So it takes 150 minutes for all the medication to enter into the system, but by the time the last 20% get in, the first 50% has already been used up.
If you ground up the pill, it is already dissolved and 100% of the medication will enter the blood stream at the same time.
100% in 5 minutes. In the case of a pain killer this will give you a high, instead of just getting rid of pain. In the case of other drugs it could kill you with an over dose or burn up your stomac lining, or result in intestinal inflamation.
-I'm not a Doctor.
2007-08-08 22:05:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
This can be deadly, depending on the dose. I am a nurse who is ultra careful with these pills. Controlled release means it delivers a large dose over a long period of time. All drugs have a half life. Half life is the length of time it takes for your body to eliminate half of the drug ingested. If you take a drug that is supposed to be released over a long period and grind it so that it is immediately released, you get it's effects immediately. What abusers fail to remember is now the have a high dose on board that will last a long time. Another thing that kills addicts is paralytic bowels. They forget that opiods put everything to sleep, bowels bladder, everything slows. I have taken care of more than one abuser having their ischemic bowels removed. This kills also, just slowly and painfully. Alot of them buy a nasogastric tube and time in the hospital just letting their gut come back to life.
A note for brindha. Drugs are stupid. They have no target. They go everywhere. They effect everything. We give them for a purpose, say pain releif, but they effect everything. The general population has no clue to side effect, concomitant actions contraindications etc.
2007-08-08 22:10:17 · answer #3 · answered by imrnlil 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
any drug has a life time in our system and their rate of absorption, distribution, concentration(or retention) and excreation adce in short is studied at kept at a non harming level. this is called pharmaco- kinetics. in your case, a drug in pill form is desingned such that , its absorption is delayed i.e. done bit by bit in say 1/2 an hour and as a result the time alloted to other processes vary, why? due to the nature of the drug. probably contolled release gives a desirable effect and the drug has time to reach its target tissue or organ, as a result it works in the predictale way and eventually leaves the body. powdered form, made by one not knowing the drug's destiny, will
1. increase its absorption rate
2. enzymes might have to work faster and convert it to the next product
3. so there may be undesirable byproducts with un forseen effects.
4. all drugs are destined to be excreted what if this new altered form is not, if it builds to toxic levels, what if it interferes with other pathways, say with nervous system. i.e why there's delar in responce time etc etc.
so it is more dangerous the one thinks!
2007-08-08 21:35:54 · answer #4 · answered by brindha 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
oxycontin is a good drug for pain too bad many users have abused it by chewing them up and etc.
Now docs a reluctant to RX them since their is such a percentenge of abuse.
Any drug is addictive if taken inappropriately.
2007-08-10 06:37:42 · answer #5 · answered by relaxrx 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My husband use to chew it and it worked 9 times faster than just taking the whole pill and yes he got real high that way...................
2007-08-08 21:32:26 · answer #6 · answered by Dianne L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dickdamick is absolutely right.
2007-08-09 07:37:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋