Role of agonist-antagonist analgesics in medicine

The history of efforts to develop new, safer and less addicting analgesic, antidiarrheal and antitussive drugs and the impact of these efforts on the understanding of the physiology of pain perception and affect, the identification of multiple opioid receptors and the finding of new analgesics has been briefly reviewed. These important findings have major implications concerning the pathology of drug abuse, and the strategies for dealing with it. The importance of these discoveries also have major implications concerning the effectiveness of scheduling of drugs under national laws and international treaties. It is argued that the types of information necessary for scheduling of some of the newer analgesics must differ from data used in previous scheduling efforts and must consider cost-benefits consideration as they relate to public health.