Cocaine, Meth and Heroin: Dangerous Drugs Still Sold by Prescription

An advertisement from 1885 unapologetically advertises cocaine for children. Purporting the drug as an "instantaneous cure" for toothaches in children, it notes that the product is "for sale by all druggists." In the modern world, such an advertisement is shocking. We now know that cocaine is one of the most lethal addictive drugs in the world, and it has not been used widely in pharmaceutical medicine for quite some time.

Many extremely dangerous, addictive drugs actually have FDA approval. In the past, some were even sold without a prescription, as readily available as Tylenol or aspirin. And, perhaps more shockingly, many substances we now view as unacceptably dangerous remain available by prescription, even for children. The following illicit drugs are still manufactured and sold by the FDA.

Cocaine

We've evolved past the days when cocaine was advertised as a toothache remedy for colicky children, but cocaine remains available for prescription use. In the past, physicians used cocaine injections for peridual anesthesia and spinal anesthesia to prevent pain during and after surgery. Even today, some doctors use cocaine as a local anesthetic, much in the same capacity as the related drugs benzocaine, licodaine and novacaine. Despite its wide reputation as an "illegal" drug, cocaine is in fact prescribed to thousands of people every year.

Heroin

Although no longer available by prescription in the United States, heroin -- the world's strongest opioid -- remains a go-to for doctors treating terminally ill patients overseas. In the U.K., heroin is one of many palliative treatments given to patients suffering from extreme pain caused by severe injuries and end-stage cancer.

Some advocates support the legalization of low-dose prescription heroin in the United States, primarily as a treatment for addiction. However, due to the drug's perhaps well-deserved reputation as a lethal and incredibly dangerous narcotic, it is unlikely to become legal in the any time in the near future.

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine, or "crystal meth," is one of the most popular and dangerous illegal drugs used in the United States. Most meth sold on the streets is manufactured in at-home labs, not pharmaceutical factories, so many people believe that the drug is illegal in and of itself. In fact, methamphetamine is approved by the FDA and still sold widely as a prescription treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children as young as 6 still use methamphetamine by prescription, and some physicians prescribe it off-label to preschoolers.

No drug is universally "evil." Some of the most dangerous illegal drugs were once the best options doctors had for the treatment of common and serious medical conditions. Nevertheless, it can be shocking to discover that drugs we view as illegal and unsafe remain on the shelves of modern pharmacies. Perhaps one day medical science will advance to the point that these dangerous drugs are no longer used, and their relatively unsafe modern counterparts -- like morphine and Adderall -- also become obsolete.