Food and Drug Administration officials say the next wave of drug abuse could involve opioid substitutes.
These substitutes include gabapentinoids, loperamide, benzodiazepines, and kratom.
"We must be aware that any decisive actions taken to reduce prescription opioid abuse and stem the tide of overdose and death can have unintended consequences, including prompting people to turn to alternative, potentially dangerous substances," the officials wrote in a recent letter published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
