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Vicodin
Vicodin - By Bill Landis
Vicodin is currently the most popular drug in the United States. It has over fifty generics and is the number one selling prescription. Last year, about half the American population – approximately 100 million people – have obtained prescriptions for vicodin. Many have become addicted, much is diverted in the black market, making statistics of the actual number of vicodin addicts difficult to ascertain, but it is estimated to number as many as 40 million Americans. Vicodin is another face of gear (heroin), but is legal by prescription, hence removing the social stigma. It is giving gear a run for its money in popularity, because you can actually pop them out of the pill bottle anyplace. You cannot do the same for snorting a line of gear, smoking it or tying off except in secrecy or among illicit addict society. Vicodin is medically used for moderate to moderately severe pain, from backaches to post-surgical and dental procedures. There is an innovative way you can use it to bring yourself down from a gear habit. Misuse and abuse of vicodin, however, can lead to a pattern of addiction and pan-addiction to additional substances, ending in serious illness or possible death if the whole vicious cycle plays out. This type of addiction is more difficult to treat than a gear addiction. The
active ingredients of vicodin are hydrocodone bitartrate and Tylenol (paracemetol).
Hydrocodone bitartrate is a potent narcotic that is a semisynthetic derivative
of morphine. Its medicinal and euphoric properties were first noted in
the 1920s. One theory is that hydrocodone is a better-developed version
of dihydrocodeine, the same chemical that goes into DF-118s and contugesic.
On a milligram per milligram basis, hydrocodone is supposed to be six times
the strength of codeine, but pragmatically is closer to nine times as strong.
The first recorded instance of addiction to hydrocodone occurred in 1961. Hydrocodone
was originally promoted as an antitussive. It is still considered one of
the most effective narcotic cough remedies available, and can be found under
the brand names hycodan, tussend, and tussionex, the latter being a time
release version. Tussionex is widely prized by addicts because of its
double strength, long effect, and additional depressant effect thanks to its
antihistamine ingredient. In addict slang tussionex is known as gold,
liquid gold, or nectar of the gods. The
pioneering author of “Junkie” and “Naked Lunch,” William Burroughs,
makes reference to fixing with hydrocodone in its pure tablet form as Dicodid.
Burroughs’ experience supplies proof for the theory that hydrocodone is
analogous in potency to hydromorphone (Dilaudid) as codeine is to morphine or
gear. The
crush and injectable form of hydrocodone, Dicodid, has long been discontinued.
You cannot inject any vicodin products, as they are in cough remedies or
compounded with paracematol. There is a lot of information on the net
about extracting the hydrocodone out of the paracematol. Playing the
home chemist in this manner is foolish and likely will result in destruction
of the active narcotic, or worse, overdose, poisoning and death. Hydrocodone was first aggressively marketed in the United States as a painkiller compound called Anexia in the early 1970s. Anexia was overshadowed in popularity by the aggressive marketing by drug companies who manufacture familiar preparations like codeine and percodan. This situation changed when Knoll, the company that held the patent on dilaudid, combined 5mg of hydrocodone with 500 mg of Tylenol and called the preparation vicodin. The drug started to have stronger versions in the late 1980s, and in the new millennium has a plethora of variants, listed below for the reader’s convenience:
The analgesia provided by 10mg of hydrocodone is approximately equal to 10mg of morphine, and is approximately two thirds as strong as methadone. Apart from remedying a plethora of aches and pains, hydrocodone brings a feeling of intense inner peace, but the individual does not become groggy and remains paradoxically alert. The addictive quality comes from the cheer up sensation of taking the pill and desire to repeat its considerable euphoric effects. Some individuals feel hydrocodone almost upon ingestion, although peak effects occur in approximately an hour and a half to one and three quarter hours. Hydrocodone can be dosed every 4-6 hours. It has a long half life lasting about 8 hours after dosing. The feeling is very similar to methadone, and also has the same cumulative effects if one doses before the last dose has worn off. Hydrodocone is highly physically addictive, and one can catch a habit from a mere 48 hours of continuous use. Full-blown addiction starts when people keep upping the dosage for the euphoric effects. Pan addiction occurs when they don’t feel it as intensely and decide to boost it with other interactive substances – much like methadone patients who want to chase the nod they used to achieve from gear. Hydrocodone has dramatically enhanced effects when combined with sedatives of the benzodiazapine variety, such as valium (diazepam), xanax (alprazolam), and muscle relaxants like soma (carisprodol, mio relax). Alcohol also increases the effects and is dangerous to use here because of the paracematol content of vicodin. The pattern of hydrocodone pan-addiction involves taking several times the recommended dose for a high, boosting it with tranquilizers, with the addict then displaying similar traits to gear addicts, ranging from nodding to full blackouts. Such individuals take at least four to five times the recommended dose – 40 to 50mg of hydrocodone, and continue on a roll of imbibing sedatives like xanax (alprazolam), and muscle relaxants. Already dangerously loaded, they will be receptive to any drug before them, from the relatively innocuous marijuana to the deadly cocaine. People on a panaddictive vicodin bender then display the entire spectrum of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde personality traits – jovial one minute, attackful the next. They can pass out in public places or get into an auto accident. Until the late 1990s, hydrocodone products were not widely seen on the black market in large urban cities like New York City, although they were popular in areas like Florida. Today, they are commonplace, illicitly sold by pushers described in the Darvon story on Brown Addict. Prescriptions for a 10mg vicodin product that cost about 50 cents to a dollar per pill to fill at a drugstore sell on the black market for $6-$7. Certain doctors who profit off the trade and the new wave of internet drug companies have cultivated vicodin addicts like hothouse flowers. Like heroin, vicodin cuts across all class barriers, from poor people who receive it on the dole to the very rich. One is immediately considered suspect for asking a prudish or anti-narcotic physician for a prescription, but the drug does not have the sinister back alley connotations of heroin. The criminality surrounding it is far less the tabloid vision of a heroin addicted stickup guy or breaking and entering creep. However, there is a considerable amount of white-collar slipperiness surrounding vicodin – addicts who are nervy and capable of phony call-in prescriptions, altering the amount of refills on the prescription pad, or bribing a pharmacy as they pass in an old pill bottle marked for an already used refill Addicts constantly bicker about which manufacturer makes the stronger version of vicodin and which they appreciate better. The most popular and immediately recognizable are made by Watson Labs, and include their generic of Lortab 10 (a rectangular blue tablet marked Watson 540), Vicodin ES (a large white oblong tablet marked Watson 387), and Norco 10 (a small yellow oblong tablet marked Watson 813). Vicodin has a sick celebrity association in America. It is a known quantity in the Hollywood film industry and entertainment in general. Actresses like Melanie Griffith have obtained and abused prescriptions after cosmetic surgeries, actor Matthew Perry from the sitcom “Friends” had a four-year bout with vicodin use, and reality television personality Anna Nicole Smith has experienced overdoses during pan-addictive experiences with vicodin. Rap singer Eminem has a tattoo of the vicodin tablet marked “Watson 387.” What people are hesitant to admit that vicodin is being used en masse in America to dampen anxiety and underlying psychological disturbances. Many of the middle-aged men and women who use internet drug services are suffering everything from professional worries to troubled marriages. The most disturbing explanation of this mass mentality, however, is that America is in a depression and has been in two wars, with peoples’ nerves been permanently shattered by the tragic and terrible 9-11 attack on New York City. Addiction to vicodin with escalating doses can cause liver damage through its Tylenol (paracematol) content. It is harmful to the liver to be on more than 3000 mg of Tylenol per day. Combined with alcohol it will lead to cirrhosis and death. It can also leave the liver open to opportunistic infections like hepatitis. So many people have become addicted to large doses of vicodin that one generic, norco 10, has been designed specifically to contain the least Tylenol (paracematol) content – 325mg. A popular Manhattan doctor who cultivates vicodin addicts conceived the following dropdown schedule. It was designed for his patients who want to detox or for whom it would look suspicious to authorities if he continued writing heavy prescriptions for. The schedule lasts six weeks, is actually one of the most symmetrical, and actually is easy to handle in the initial stages.
Week 1: 2 tablets four times per day (80mg hydrocodone per day). Week 2: 1.5 tablets four times per day (60mg hydrocodone per day). During week 2, stabilization is being achieved and the addict will barely notice a difference. Week 3: 1 tablet four times per day. (40mg hydrocodone per day). Here is gets a little rougher but the patient will remain straight. The occasional use of the muscle relaxant soma (carisprodol, mio relax) to aid with body pains, and an occasional valium at night if sleep is interrupted is recommended. Week 4: ¾ tablet four times per day (30mg hydrocodone per day). The dropdown will not be noticeable, and sympathetic measures like the prudent use of the above sedatives and muscle relaxants, along with keeping hydrated and physical therapy measures like hot showers, baths and even hot packs is important. However, norco 10 is a very small pill and hence difficult to split; and an attempt to three-quarter them will be something of an approximation. Week 5: ½ tablet four times per day (20mg hydrocodone per day). Here it is extremely rough on the patient, and the other medical and physical therapy measures are a near necessity in order for them to stick with it. Week 6: ¼ tablet four times per day (10mg hydrocodone per day) It is extremely difficult to split norco on any 10mg hydrocodone tablet into quarters. People have approached this stage of detoxification by taking one half tablet three times per day at increasingly longer intervals, dropping to half tablet twice a day, and then none. By now, the amount of medication feels small, petty, annoying and robbed of any reward system. The sympathetic measures are essential, although those who cannot afford them have made it through without additional medications. Throughout the schedule it is essential that one not tamper with the dosages or take more to chase any high or feel better, it will throw the monkey right onto your back with its full teeth and claws ripping at you. And the sedatives must not be abused, as they will then create a separate addiction that will have to be dealt with medically. The muscle relaxant soma (carisprodol, mio relax) is also helpful but is not to be taken in any massive amounts. It takes about 5-7 days to shake a vicodin habit as opposed to the intense 2-3 days of turkeying off gear. The cycle of vicodin withdrawal usually follows a pattern of exhaustion, followed by mental depression, and sometimes ending with a cold, as the drug is antitussive by nature. Another disconcerting side effect of vicodin is on hearing. It can muffle everything with heavy use and the user’s voice will be unknowingly loud. During withdrawn noises will feel exaggerated. If the individual is narcotic tolerant and has used gear or other morphine-like narcotics for many years, there is stabilization similar to methadone possible with prudent use of vicodin. The dosing formula is equivalent to that of many chronic pain patients who use the drug. It involves taking 5-10mg hydrocodone approximately every six hours, with a minimum of 15mg and a maximum of 30mg per day. You cannot fall off this schedule, take more medication to feel good or more frequently without becoming a raging addict. Unlike methadone, you cannot take it once or twice and feel fine for the rest of the day. However, an individual on this dosage will be functional and not inebriated. There is the unorthodox but applicable manner of kicking gear with use of the norco 10 dropdown schedule given above. To approach it, one must bring their use of street heroin down as much as possible, attempting not to use, by way of example, more than three street bags of dope a day. Not tampering with the schedule or falling off the wagon – either to take more vicodin or use heroin - is essential for success. Vicodin, for better or worse, is here to stay. It can be extremely lethal if misused. However, there is a functional level of addiction, and methods of detoxification from it have been mapped out. If applied correctly by an intelligent physician or enterprising individual seeking a way out of heroin addiction, it can be a useful tool in detoxifying. Slang
Names: Vikes, Hydro, Lors, Norcs ************************************************************************ More
of Bill Landis and his collaborator Michelle Clifford at Exploitation
and 1970s classic adult movies and the Times Square vice world documented, and
much more.
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Last updated: 9 November 2003 |
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