Powerful painkillers carry potential for abuse, crime.

Publication: Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT)

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COPYRIGHT 2006 The Salt Lake Tribune

Byline: Bob Mims

Dec. 24--Actiq's rocket ride from pain to bliss can make it highly addictive, with a potential for abuse and even death, a trait it shares with other opioids such as OxyContin, methadone and endorphin. Although officials at Utah drug-abuse treatment centers say they are not seeing addictions locally, addicts can be found easily in certain Internet discussion groups.

Responding by e-mail, a man who identified himself as Timothy Case of Huntington, N.Y., said he became dependent on Actiq in 2002 while rehabilitating from a spinal cord injury. Eventually, he was taking the drugged sucker every four...

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