Gabapentin is increasingly being used by patients in methadone maintenance programs to get a high.
Increasing availability, infrequent drug testing, and potentiation of euphoria when combined with opioids have likely all contributed to gabapentin misuse.
- Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) data show that ED visits involving thenonmedical use of gabapentin have increased by 90% in the United States since 2008.
- DAWN data also suggest that 20% of patients in treatment may misuse or abuse gabapentin.
Meanwhile, there has been a rise in gabapentin prescribing.
Current advice on prescribing Gabapentin: use caution. Don't necessarily avoid prescribing it, but be careful and prescribe it from visit to visit. Don't just give somebody six refills and say you will see them in 6 months.
source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/855819?nlid=93367_2982, (Medscape Medical News from the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) 26th Annual Meeting)
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