Hi everybody Cheryl Ackison here. I hope you enjoy this special from the Archives edition of

full measure after hours. Hi everybody Cheryl Ackison here.

Cheryl Ackison here.

Welcome to another edition of Full Measure After Hours.

Today a deep look at controversies surrounding one of the most widely

prescribed drugs in America that you may not widely prescribed drug called

Gaba Penten. What's so interesting about it? Well, a few things. One of them is the wide number of

maladies that doctors are prescribing it for,

nerve disorders, pain, sort of unspecified pain, anxiety, and almost all of its uses for things that the FDA never approved it for.

Now it's perfectly legal for doctors to prescribe drugs like Gabapenton for so-called off-label use,

something the FDA didn't approve it for,

to try it on their patients for things other than what it was tested and supposedly proven to treat.

But this drug really stands out for the fact that so little of it is actually used for its originally

intended and approved purpose.

Gabapentin kind of picked up steam as a popular drug pretty fast. I started hearing about people being on it for all kinds of things

and then I went to the vet and they were trying to give it to my dog too.

Also interesting, the debate over whether it's addictive.

Sunday on full measure you're going to hear a really heart-wrenching story

from a musician who had kicked his crack cocaine addiction years before was prescribed

Gavapent for anxiety and he got hooked on it just like crack.

Eventually he said he was taking 25 or more of these pills a night and then having withdrawals when he tried to get off of it,

even trying to crush it up and snort it. Now a lot of people do say still that Gabopenton is not addictive.

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