Inner Workings: Safer opioids may be on the horizon, but mitigating addiction is a long shot [Pharmacology]

Opioids are well-known to be lethally addictive, spurring a nationwide crisis. Less well-known are the drugs’ other complications: dangerous breathing difficulties, nausea, gastrointestinal distress, and paradoxically, a hypersensitization that worsens feelings of pain. Inevitably, frequent users grow tolerant of the drugs’ pain-relieving effects, leading them to use increasingly higher doses...
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Inner Workings, Front Matter Source Type: research