Abstract

Many narcotics are available for use in place of morphine, and the Medical Letter has discussed some of them in the past (e. g. pethidine, Brit. Ed. 1, 1; oxymorphone, US Ed. 1960, 2, 85). All these drugs, in equivalent analgesic doses, cause about the same degree of respiratory depression. The differences among them in addiction potential are not great enough to permit any difference in the caution with which they are used in chronic illness.