The 2013 production quota was 5,968 kilograms (13,157 lb).Like all opioids used for analgesia, hydromorphone is potentially habit-forming and is listed in Schedule II of the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970 as well as in similar levels under the drugs laws of practically all other countries and it is listed in the Single Convention On Narcotic Drugs. The DEA ACSCN for hydromorphone is 9150. Hydromorphone is listed under the German Betäubungsmittelgesetz as a Betäubungsmittel in the most restricted schedule for medicinal drugs; it is controlled similarly in Austria (Suchtgift) under the SMG and the Swiss BetmG. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (United Kingdom) and comparable French, Canadian, Australian, Italian, Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Swedish, Polish, Spanish, Greek, Russian, and other laws similarly control it, as do regulations in virtually all other countries. Use in executions
In 2009, Ohio approved the use of an intramuscular injection of 500 mg of hydromorphone and a supratherapeutic dose of midazolam as a backup means of carrying out executions when a suitable vein cannot be found for intravenous injection.Hydromorphone and midazolam was injected intravenously to execute double-murderer Joseph Wood in Arizona on 24 July 2014. Wood was heavily sedated (surgical anesthesia) within four minutes from start, but took almost two hours to transition to stage 4 (cessation of respiration) and death. References
External links
"Hydromorphone". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Article discussing withdrawal of extended-release hydromorphone from the U.S. market
Dihydromorphinones from morphine & analogues
United States DEAs perspective, including statistics on manufacture and prescription levels from 1998 to 2006
"When is a pain doctor a drug pusher? ", The New York Times, 17 Jun 2007