From: jaxsun@tesser.com (Jackson) Subject: Re: Methadone Addiction Date: 1997/02/19 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard >> I have been on and off of the methadone program since 1974,more on than >> off.I am steady at 140 mgs of the done and I tryied the new wonder drug >> called OR_A LAMand it is some bad shit I am telling you.I would like some >> feedback on the methadone replacement-OR-A-LAM. >> > Ditto on the time span...but not on the new one..can't they,the >Clinic,put ya back to the reg Done? I guess there are a few names out there now--Laam, Oralaam and Orlaam. I'm just guessing but the latter two could be Generics of LAAM as it was first used well over 30yrs. ago. Similar here, I guess I didn't really start true maintenance until about 1976 but have been on & off, more on since then. Maybe 4-5yrs. out of 22yrs. off. I was on LAAM in 77-78? In the Brouchure for LAAM is says they begin with Methadone to make the stuff? At 145mgs. the first day(On a regular regimen) was a knock out for me but the other days were normal if I remember correct,a little too normal! Which at the time worked fine because I was studying Mechanical Engineering at College at the time.Also it never lasted 72hrs. for me. More like 60? And our Clinic(This was the last experimental phase III)recognized this and we were given "Supplements" of Methadone on Sundays of around 20-30mg. some got 15mg. but I was always game for a much as I could get back then. I was what 21-22yrs.old. Also just as Alcohol(Drinking) can "eliminate" your methadone quickly,it really gets rid of the long term actions of the time released stuff. Does it not work for you at all or does it not last as long as they claim? Jackson ==================================================================== From: tomdoitall@aol.com (TOMDOITALL) Subject: Re: Methadone Addiction Date: 1997/03/02 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard It lasts long enough,It takes any energy I have an elimanates it altogether.Methadone gives me a little boost at 140mg and I don`t have a problem driving wereas with LAAM I can`t hold my eyes open no matter what the dose is and if I go down real low I get to withdrawing and that ain`t my idea of a good time. I feel sick on the LAAM all day long ,I have to be on it cause of the new Federal Law requiring the clinic to be open 7 days a week,I live so far away I is not possible for me to go every day. ==================================================================== From: staring@my.screen (Samson) Subject: Re: A Laam Analog? The name game. Date: 1997/02/15 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard In article <33052e7c.43268825@news.tesser.com>, jaxsun@tesser.com wrote: > Well this had what appears to be a new Analog of LAAM being marketed > as ORLAAM?? You know in some books they are >a hell of alot of > Methadone analogs? Amidone,Dromoran and Methylmorphine being a > few. Anyway Laam is Levo-Alpha-acetyl-Methadol where as this new stuff > called Orlaam (schedule II) by an unknown manufacturer is called > Levomethadyl-Acetate-HCl. Sounds too similar too not be an analog like > all the Benzo's! Keep em coming !! > Jackson Ah, these drug names can be confusing. Orlaam, manufactured by our friends at Roxane, _is_ LAAM which is levo-alpha-acetylmethadol which _is_ levomethadyl. Methylmorphine is not an analog of methadone, but is, in fact, another way of describing codeine (much as heroin is diacetylmorphine). Dromoran, not a meth analog either, is another name for levorphanol. (I'm not sure about Amidone, but I believe it is one overseas manufacturer's name for methadone). Yes, it's confusing enough that manufacturers give trademarked nicknames to "generic" products, but then you have to decipher the generic names which are nicknames for chemical names -- and often nicknames for nicknames for chemical names. Marinol is the brand name for the generic name dronabinol which is a nickname for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol which itself is not even part of the standard chemical nomenclature. It's hard to say why any particular generic name is chosen, but there are at least two reasons: (1) It looks something like the chemical name. Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) is a good example of this. Its chemical name is 5-(2-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-nitro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one. Diazepam (the "standard" benzo, like morphine to the opiates) is 5-phenyl-7-chloro-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one. So, look at the difference between the "standard" and the new drug. You've got "2-fluoro-" and "7-nitro-". Abbreviate those, throw on the obligatory "-azepam" and you have "flunitrazepam" (2) It's short. This is probably the most important reason. Imagine you're a doctor working ER and the EMT's roll in a heroin OD. Do you yell, "morphinan-6-one...um...4,5-epoxy-3...uhhhh...14-dihydroxy-17-(2-propenyl) hyydrochloride...or something...STAT!!!". You _could_, if your unit was staffed by a bunch of organic chemists, but it makes a lot more sense just to call for "naloxone". That having been said, there are a number of active methadone analogs, some of which the federal government has already gone through the trouble of banning (eg., acetylmethadol, alphamethadol, betacetylmethadol, betamethadol, noracymethadol normethadone). The only close analogs currently on the US market are methadone itself, propoxyphene, and now LAAM (aka alphamethadyl). But LAAM was first developed in 1948, and there are doubtless hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other analogs sitting in lab refrigerators or briefly mentioned in journal articles and thrown away, which no one has bothered to nickname, patent, submit for approval, or ban. This is the way it is with all of these drugs. Over 3,000 benzodiazepines had been synthesized before Valium hit the shelves. Theoretically, they could give you a new analog of any of your favorite drugs every week and you'd be dead long before you tried them all. You should have been a chemist, Jackson.