Could New Painkiller be Stronger than Oxycontin?

A new medication that some researchers are calling the next Oxycontin has recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

According to Popular Science, the FDA has approved an even more addictive pill known as Zohydro, an opiod painkiller that contains up to 10 times the amount of hydrocodone found in Vicodin and could potentially be abused by drug users.

Researchers also note that this is the first hydrocodone drug the FDA has approved that isn't diluted with another painkiller such as acetaminophen that may make opioid medications less addictive but also cause liver damage.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that prescription painkiller overdoses continue to be a public health epidemic. In the United States, in fact, the health organization is calling them the "fastest growing drug problem," with painkillers like Oxycontin and Vicodin leading the highest number of fatal overdoses seen in decades, killing 16,000 people in 2010 alone. 

"If you approve this pill, you surely will be signing a death sentence for thousands of people, especially young kids," Avi Israel, a father whose 20-year-old son committed suicide after becoming addicted to doctor-prescribed hydrocodone, told FDA officials at the December hearing, according to Mother Jones. 

Judith Kramer, a professor at Duke University Medical Center who voted against the drug also expressed her concern regarding its use. "This drug will almost certainly cause dependence in the people that are intended to take it."

What do you think?