This article in the New York Times talks about methods being developed by pharmaceutical companies to make their drugs tamper proof. Processes include encasing them in rubberlike material or adding ingredients that will cause unpleasant physical reactions such as flushing or itching if the pill is crushed. The reasoning is that most people who abuse painkillers will crush them into a powder to snort them or liquefy and inject them in order to get a faster high. By making them unalterable, it will help deter painkiller abuse. Whether this will actually work is debatable. Serious drug users will simply ingest them whole. And one thing the article does not mention is that junkies usually find a way to get around such impediments. Soon or later an enterprising addict will figure out how to extract the drug from the casing without damage.
As the author points out while these new drugs may make it more difficult for addicts to get an immediate high, this is only a superficial solution to a serious problem. Prescription drug abuse costs the United States billions in excessive medicare costs. The real problem is easy access to prescription pills.
Greater measures are necessary including doctors assessing the vulnerability of their patients to addiction and monitoring them for signs of potential abuse which means more frequent doctor visits. A patient training program in which patients are warned about the legal repercussions of sharing their drugs should also be part of the strategy.
There also needs to be better online monitoring databases which would allow doctors or pharmacists to check whether patients have multiple prescriptions to painkillers.
This would require major changes to the healthcare system in the United States which based on current events is not likely to happen anytime soon.
Unfortunately until these problems are addressed making pills tamper proof is a minor fix at best.
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