Pentazocine abuse in a healthcare professional

A 53-year-old man, a health professional from a Middle Eastern country, was admitted with parenteral overuse of pentazocine. He had first used pentazocine in the First Persian Gulf War for migraine. He began to abuse pentazocine, which he scaled up to 20 ampules per day and continued using for >15 years. Since 2006, because of political regulations in the healthcare system in his country, he obtained the drug from illegal sources instead of from pharmacies. He was abstinent for 9 months after a treatment programme. He …