what are some prescription drugs that now are illegal?!


Question: What are some prescription drugs that now are illegal?
I'm looking for a list of prescription drugs that once were legal but now are not.

Answers:

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Like another said it is rare for a drug to be made illegal, typically a medication is simply removed from the market if, for example, it has a clear safely issue. Although it may be removed from the market drugs are not typically added to the list of controlled substances nor are controlled substances that are removed placed in a different level of control to make it illegal.

I can, however, think of a few exceptions-

Quaalude (methaqualone)- a popular sedative-hypnotic commonly prescribed in the 1960s and 1970s. In the United States methaqualone was placed under schedule I control (meaning it can't be used for medical use) in 1984. In most other countries the drug is not illegal in the same way it is in the United States.

Delysid (lysergic acid diethylamide aka LSD)- marketed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Sandoz (now Novartis) in 1947 (use of Delysid continued into the 1960s). It was indicated for two uses 1) "analytical psychotherapy, to elicit release of repressed material and provide mental relaxation, particularly in anxiety states and obsessional neuroses" and 2) for "experimental studies on the nature of psychoses: By taking Delysid himself, the psychiatrist is able to gain an insight in the world of ideas and sensations of mental patients."

Unlike methaqualone, LSD is a schedule I drug under The United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances and thus illegal in all countries party to the convention (aka everyone).

MDMA (aka "ecstasy") was originally used in psychotherapy, used in couples therapy, for therapeutic introspection, and was known to reduce a patients "psychological defence" thus allowing for a more progressive therapy.

In 1985 MDMA was placed under schedule I in the United States and it is a schedule I drug under The United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

One odd thing is Rohypnol (flunitrazepam). Under The United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances and thus the United States Controlled Substances Act it is a schedule IV controlled substance. However some countries have used legal loopholes to make Rohypnol much more like a schedule I drug. Due to the requirements of the convention the drug can't simply be moved from schedule IV to schedule I. Rohypnol is however legal in most of the world. Most of the hype about Rohypnol is not based in fact.

GHB has a similar story, it too tends to be classified as a "club drug" and a "date rape drug." It was legal but in 2000 the United States placed it under schedule I control. It is the only drug in the US to be listed as both a schedule I (illegal) drug and separately a schedule III (legal) drug.

Also to make it very clear, many drugs considered "illegal" are in fact NOT illegal and can be used for medical use. In The United States cocaine, Desoxyn (methamphetamine), and- as I mentioned- Xyrem (sodium oxybate- better known as GHB) are all available for medical use despite the belief they are illegal.

In addition Heroin (diamorphine) is legal and commonly used in the United Kingdom, its use as a maintenance treatment for Heroin addicts who fail to respond to methadone has also spread across many countries. Some countries, like Canada, also have a special access programme that could allow the use of Heroin under highly controlled situations.

Actually most drugs that are illegal (schedule I) are hallucinogens and very few of them have been approved or widely used for any medical use and many opioids that are not used in medicine are also schedule I.

M.D., C.M. psychiatry, internal medicine (Québec)
Hons. BSc pharmacology



You have to be careful here. Prescription drugs are very rarely made 'illegal', I can't actually think of any. Doctors can generally prescribe anything they think fit so long as they don't break the terms of their licence to practice. They tend to be withdrawn or delicensed not made illegal.

Even stuff like diamorphine (heroin) and cocaine can be prescribed.



Phenylbutazone used to be prescribed to people (for gout I think) but is not legal now although you can still give it to horses



Well up until about 1900 you could get opium on prescription...

And cocaine was even later than that.



ativan,tenuatedospan,clobazam,distalgic fortral.loback mandrex,to tired think of anymore



In the UK Distalgesic. A very good painkiller but now banned because some fools overdosed on it.



Vioxx.




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