Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

15from other clinical projects of which Dr. Eddy has been largely responsible.He can outline this better than I.What is going to happen in the future I am not certain. I believethe Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs is going to supportthe laboratory because they need this kind of information. But thishas not been completely clarified as yet.I will retire this year. A^^iether my successor, not yet appointed,is amenable to carrying on this program at Michigan is not yet known.But I am assuming that he is, because it is a well established andon-going program. Dr. Julian Villarreal, currently in charge of theprogram, I understand, will testify before your group. He is fullycapable of taking over this program and has done a beautiful job inthe last several years.Mr. Pekito. Doctor, would it be possible for your laboratory todevelop an eflecti^'e synthetic analgesic which does not have addictionliability ^Dr. Seevers. Well, none of these antagonists have significant addictionliability. This is their advantage, of course. They do not evokethe cellular changes in the brain which is responsible for the phenomenaof physical dependence. We have compounds at the present timethat can be administered chronically and they do not produce physicaldependence.I am not quite sanguine enough to say that we could develop a eompoundthat, if it has any subjective effects, would not be abused bysome persons. We have on the market a substance of this type nowwhich does not produce significant physical dependence: pentazocine.I'his compound has shown some small abuse. The number of people whowill abuse this drug which does not produce subjective effects is verysmall. I think if we can reduce abuse to a minimal level, it is probablythe best we can ever expect to do.Chairman Pepper. Have you had any deaths from the use of pentazocine?Dr. Seevers. Not to my knowledge. There have been a few reportedcases of drug dependence.Mr. Perito. Directing attention to your statement about syntheticsubstitutes for codeines; do we now have a single drug which willeffectively substitute for codeine or do we have to use a combinationof drugs ?Dr. Seevers. Well, we have a compound which is a little more]3otent: dihydrocodeinong. This has been used but since it is morepotent, it is more subject to abuse. But it is not entirely synthetic.The search for a codeine substitute has been one of the primaryaims of industry in the last decade. It is easy enough to find substitutesfor morphine because we have got a Avhole list of them. Butthose, that hPvVe sufficiently low potency, that they could be used ascodeine is used, with minimal addiction potential, is something wehave not quite achieved.Chairman Pepper. Just one question. Doctor, how do you think wecan best induce organized medicine to accept a synthetic substitutefor morphine and codeine ?Dr. Seevers. I don't think we will have any trouble with morphine.The problem would be with codeine because it is so widely used. Infact, the amount of morphine used in this country is very small comparedto the use of Demerol or other synthetics. The vast bulk of