The man-made opioid tramadol was touted as able to relieve pain with little risk of abuse. Unlike other opioids, it was unburdened by international controls. But now countries are asking international authorities to intervene.
“This is a huge public health dilemma,” said Dr. Gilles Forte, the secretary of the World Health Organization’s committee that recommends how drugs should be regulated. Tramadol is available in war zones and impoverished nations because it is unregulated. But it is widely abused for the same exact reason. “It’s a really very complicated balance to strike.”
Tramadol is so pervasive in Cameroon scientists a few years ago believed they’d discovered a natural version in tree roots. But it was not natural at all: Farmers bought pills and fed them to their cattle to ward off the effects of debilitating heat. Their waste contaminated the soil, and the chemical seeped into the trees.
“We know that opioids are some of the most addictive drugs on the face of the planet, so the claim that you’ve developed one that’s not addictive, that’s an extraordinary claim, and extraordinary claims require evidence. And it just wasn’t there,” said Jorgensen. “We’ve all been cheated, and people are angry about that.”
Tramadol’s exemption means authorization isn’t required as the drug moves across borders. Its easy availability also leads to confusion about what tramadol even is, experts say. In many countries, it is thought to be a mood enhancer or treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress. Some take it to improve sexual stamina or endure grueling labor.
The WHO is analyzing whether any other drug could take its place but have so far found none. Meanwhile, Forte said, the agency is working with battered nations to ferret out counterfeits. The company has campaigned to keep tramadol unregulated. It funded surveys that found regulation would impede pain treatment and paid consultants to travel to the WHO to make their case that it’s safer that other opioids.
TakeThatCDC Tramadol made my husband deathly, deathly ill. It did nothing for his pain from radiotherapy, but it made him almost completely detached from reality. It's a horrible, horrible drug. A friend told us to try Aleve. It worked like a charm.
It gave me seizure.
TakeThatCDC Any drug that acts on pain, pleasure, sleep etc centres in brain will have dependence and abuse potential. Yet why do we believe “it’s safer” each time a new player comes along? More based on the hope rather than the evidence?
Crazy addiction
They are all addictive. Safer does not say much but the others are worse.
Big pharmaceutical companies. 🤮
Tramadol was what my mother used to get off of fentanyl patches that made her extremely sick while recovering from a severe motorcycle accident. The problem is addictive personalities, not the drug.
Tramadol is garbage.
Tramadol does not work
Tramadol does not even get you high, it's not a full mu aganoist opoid
I currently take Tramadol. It's been a great medication for me. Much less side effects than opioids. However with the current whipped up hysteria, now this medication is being as heavily regulated as the others. Stop the offenders, not the patients or the medication.
Are people sure it isn't being used for pain? Pain you don't believe is real looks a lot like an opioid addiction.
Tramadol is not a opioid- it potentiates opiates.
Idiots. There is no such thing as a safe opioid.
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