Todd Bishop
Johnson & Johnson was accused of contributing to the addiction of opioids and was fined $572 million (approximately HK$4.5 billion) by the US Oklahoma State Court. When mentioning this product, the user may only think of personal care products such as shower gel and talcum powder, but in fact, Johnson & Johnson is also a well-known pharmaceutical factory. The drug that causes it to be controlled is a drug that contains synthetic opiates.
The drugs controlled by Johnson & Johnson are Durogesic painkillers and Nucynta painkillers. The two drugs contain two active ingredients, fentanyl and Tapentadol, both of which are synthetic opioid analgesics.
Opium and synthetic opium drugs
Opium is a product from poppies with a variety of alkaloids. The drugs that are extracted from natural poppy are called opioids. For example, morphine and codeine are opioids. Morphine is a well-known powerful analgesic, while codeine can be used in cough syrup to relieve cough and soothe sore throat.
As for synthetic opium, synthetic drugs are used to synthesize drugs that act similarly to opiates and act on human opioid receptors. These modified synthetic drugs are generally more potent or have special uses, such as fentanyl, a potent analgesic that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Methadone can be used to quit fentanyl.
Must be taken as directed by your doctor
Whether it is opium or synthetic opium, long-term use can become addictive, so it is important to follow the doctor’s instructions to take the drug. The biggest reason for the addiction of opioids is that users develop long-term dependence on pain-relieving drug habits and develop drug resistance, which leads to the need to take larger doses of drugs in the face of the same pain, and ultimately addiction. Once the patient stops taking the drug, the withdrawal symptoms will be painful, but if used for a long time, the dosage will eventually increase and the risk of poisoning will increase.
Opioid analgesics have the risk of causing addiction to patients, but they are still taken as needed. Opioid analgesics respond to severe pain, especially visceral pain, which is far more effective than general non-opioid painkillers. As long as you take the prescribed dose as directed by your doctor, you can effectively relieve pain while avoiding addiction.
