Some prescription medications are used as a recreational drug by taking it in higher doses or mixing it with other substances. In some cases, the pleasurable or euphoric effects of a medication are enhanced by taking it in a way that’s different than how it’s prescribed. By changing a drug’s route of administration, it may cause more intense effects, and it may work more quickly. Methocarbamol is a prescription drug that’s used to treat muscle tightness and spasms. It’s not known as a common drug of abuse, but what would happen if you smoked or snorted it? Learn more about methocarbamol and what would happen if it were abused.
What Is Methocarbamol?
Methocarbamol is a muscle relaxant used to treat symptoms called spasticity, which refers to painful or uncomfortable muscle spasms or tightness. Spasticity can be caused by injuries and neurological problems like multiple sclerosis. It’s often used alongside physical therapy to help ease pain and discomfort that would make therapy more difficult. Methocarbamol isn’t an opioid or a benzodiazepine, which are other prescription drugs that are used to treat pain and spasms, respectively. Unlike those other medications, methocarbamol isn’t a federally controlled substance, and it’s not under heavy regulations beyond that it is required for you to have a prescription to buy it.
Is Methocarbamol Abused Recreationally?
Drugs like opioids and benzodiazepines have a high abuse potential because they can cause euphoric effects when they’re taken in high doses. However, methocarbamol is considered to have a very low likelihood of abuse. The drug can cause feelings of sedation and dizziness, which can be unpleasant, but they may also be sought out by some recreational users. However, it can also cause symptoms called dysphoria when it’s abused. Dysphoria is an unpleasant feeling of discontentment, or that something is wrong. This can lead to anxiety or paranoia. Methocarbamol has found to be less likely to be abused than other members of its own class like meprobamate and carisoprodol. One study found that the drug could have some abuse potential, but it’s more likely that unpleasant side effects would outweigh any potential positive effects when the drug is taken in high doses.
What Happens If You Snort or Smoke It?
Sometimes drugs that generally have mild effects can be abused by taking them through different routes of administration. Snorting or smoking certain substances can increase their potency and deliver a more powerful high. But is that the case with methocarbamol? The effects of a drug change with the route of administration because of something called bioavailability. Bioavailability refers to the efficiency that a drug makes it into your bloodstream through a given route of administration. For instance, since intravenous injection delivers a drug directly into your veins, the intravenous bioavailability of any given drug is 100 percent.
Methocarbamol has a relatively high bioavailability when it’s taken by mouth. In fact, nearly all of methocarbamol is absorbed. Taking it through other routes of administration that may not deliver the drug into your system as efficiently wouldn’t yield a more potent high. However, even though snorting or smoking the drug would be pointless when trying to achieve a high, it may still be dangerous. Taking drugs in this way can irritate the lungs, nostrils, and airways, in a way that can lead to uncomfortable or dangerous side effects.
