Kentucky's attorney general is urging the Food and Drug Administration to make generic pain pills harder to abuse.
Forty-seven state attorneys general have signed a letter asking the FDA to require drug manufacturers to develop tamper-resistant versions of their products.
The FDA is currently considering generics for two of the most commonly abused pain killers, Oxycontin and Opana.
Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway explains that generic crushable drugs lack the tamper-resistant gel coating on many name brand drugs. "Oxycontin is normally delivered in time release over 12 hours, but addicts can snort 12 hours worth of the medication in about 12 seconds," says Conway.
If generics come to market without being tamper-proof, Conway says much of the work Kentucky has done to curb drug abuse will be lost.
