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In 2000, the National Institute on Drug Abuse listed hydrocodone (the narcotic ingredient in Vicodin) as an “emerging” recreational drug. Its use has risen steadily each year, and has now achieved the status of no longer being “emerging.”
According to Karen Miotto, MD, medical director of the Veterans Administration Los Angeles Ambulatory Clinic, “one reason pain killers like Vicodin are attractive to some people is because they provide a considerable feeling of well-being, but users can still function relatively normally in their jobs and personal lives—often getting away with it for years.”