Use and Misuse of Pentazocine

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Abstract
From time to time a new drug becomes available whose pharmacologic properties differ markedly from those of older similar agents, even though the primary uses of the drugs are the same. Such pharmacologic differences must be appreciated by the physician if he is to use the new agent appropriately. Pentazocine (Talwin) is an example of this kind of drug—it has pharmacologic properties of agonists of the morphine type and of antagonists of the nalorphine type. The development of pentazocine stemmed from the observation that nalorphine, a potent narcotic antagonist, also possessed potent analgesic activity in man and was not dependence-producing. Yet, nalorphine was seen to produce psychotomimetic effects and therefore was judged not clinically useful as an analgesic. These findings suggested that a strong analgesic without dependence liability might be developed from studies of compounds that have antagonistic activity, providing the analgesic and psychotomimetic effects could be separated. Pentazocine was

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