The DEA banned a drug some opioid users called a miracle
Researchers say the Schedule I ban could kill studies of a promising opioid treatment.
In 2012, as the opioid crisis escalated, Laura Bohn was entrusted with the responsibility of discovering safer alternatives for pain management. Backed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bohn and her team unveiled a groundbreaking study in 2017. Published in the esteemed science journal Cell, their research revealed that several compounds, including a particularly promising one named SR-17018, could effectively alleviate pain in mice without triggering the life-threatening respiratory depression that often leads to fatal opioid overdoses.
Bohn, who currently serves as a senior associate vice president of research at the University of South Florida Health, reported that her team had filed a patent on SR-17018. Furthermore, they discovered that mice administered with the compound did not develop a tolerance, and even those already dependent on morphine, a highly potent opioid, could consume SR-17018 to restore their tolerance without experiencing the agonizing withdrawal symptoms typically associated with opioid dependency.
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