Researchers Identify Way to Reduce Morphine Tolerance to Lower Risk of Addiction

Becoming addicted to a drug as the result of extended medical care is a common problem in the health care industry. While doctors do take necessary steps to try and prevent addiction in their patients, it can still easily happen – especially with highly addictive drugs.

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Painkiller Patch Can Lead to Dangerous Addiction

In 2005, morphine patches were introduced in Norway in the hopes of reducing the use and abuse of painkillers. However, researchers have found that the patches are often used incorrectly, which can lead to addiction.

Like a nicotine patch, the morphine patch releases small, steady doses of medication over a long period of time, which is good for patients who need low doses of pain-relieving medication. Ideally, this was meant to help reduce drug consumption and control the use of the medication, which would result in fewer cases of dependence. But with so many people using the patch incorrectly, the effect is just the opposite.

“The reason for this incorrect usage is that there is not enough information out there, and a lack of expertise in individuals who are writing prescriptions,” said professor Petter Borchgrevink, head of the Norwegian National Centre for Complex Disorders. When Borchgrevink and professor Stein Kaasa of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology started to research the actual use of the patches, they found that the patches were often being given in addition to other drugs, instead of being used as an alternative to habit-forming medications. “This increases the health burden and the risk of addiction,” said Borchgrevink.

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