ADDICTION TO MEPERIDINE HYDROCHLORIDE (DEMEROL HYDROCHLORIDE)

Abstract

Numerous patients addicted to meperidine hydrochloride (Demerol hydrochloride) have been admitted to the United States Public Health Service Hospital, Lexington, Ky. Several had been addicted to opiates before becoming addicted to meperidine hydrochloride. Many used this drug and morphine sulfate concurrently. Prior to September 1946 cases of addiction to this drug had not been reported in the American literature, except in persons previously addicted to the opiates. Three cases of addiction to meperidine hydrochloride are here reported. Two patients have never been addicted to any other narcotic drug and 1 used morphine when sufficient meperidine hydrochloride was not available. REPORT OF CASES Case 1.— Patient A, a white man volunteer aged 27, had sixteen abdominal operations between 1929 and 1941. He had received a proprietary preparation of the total alkaloids of opium as soluble hydrochlorides (Pantopon) and occasionally morphine sulfate as preoperative and postoperative medication. He emphatically denied experiencing positive