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using Vicodin (hydrocodone) for emergencies (first-aid kit)?

I do a lot of adventuring and backcountry snowboarding. If I am doing anything serious I always keep a good first-aid kit with me.

On one occasion the friend I was with fractured his elbow while we were snowboarding, and was in serious pain. It wasn't serious enough to where he needed to be airlifted or something like that but it was 2 or 3 hours before he could get to the hospital.

All I had was OTC pain killers like ibuprofen and aspirin, and wish I had something stronger like hydrocodone to give to him.

I could get hydrocodone from people I know and trust that have some left over from surgeries.
Do you guys think it is wise to keep this in my first-aid kit and administer it in an emergency?

I know it's illegal, but don't you think the benefits might outweigh the risks?

Public Comments

1. Don't do it. You are setting yourself up for a lawsuit dispensing controlled substances. Even I, as a nurse would never give such a medication without a direct order from a physician for that patient. What if the person had an allergic reaction? People can die from allergic reactions. Something to think about.

2. No, because if you would get caught with them you would get in trouble because you don't have a prescription for them.. and you couldn't tell the authorities the truth because they probably wouldn't believe you... I would just go ahead and stick with the regular tylenol or ibuprofen.

3. That's just it, it's a risk. You must decide what your chances of getting caught with it are and see if it's worth having such narcotics in case of an emergency such as you described.

4. No. Aside from the illegality of it...

Some people don't react well to hydrocodone. If he puffs up and turns blue, you're in a lot of trouble.

Masking pain has be carefully done. If you administer something that masks pain and impairs judgment, someone will start moving injured areas around and cause potentially irreversible damage (frex, a pt with a neck injury will keep still instinctively. A pt who isn't feeling neck pain may well move and damage the cord).

And lastly, will you be there when rescue gets there? Will you remember to tell them what you gave him? How about the dose? If you forget and they hit him again and he stops breathing from the overdose, how will you feel about that?

The risks much outweigh the benefits here. Don't do it.

5. Not a smart idea. If you get busted (probably won't happen honestly), and that's a big if, you could be in serious legal issues and criminal issues. You're carrying a controlled substance w/o a prescription, you aren't certified to administer medications (especially those prescription painkillers) to patients, and you do not have a sufficient justification for carrying controlled substances on you...in other words the reasons you gave for having it won't stand in a court.


The benefits will only last from the time the person is injured to the time ski patrol gets there, which probably won't be that long a time.

It also presents issues for the rescuers in their assessment of the patient. The patient will not be able to normally detect pain, thus throwing off the care givers in determining where injury occurred.

Having the pills is a bad idea.

6. absolutely NOT - you could kill someone if they react badly to it, not to mention the fact that technically you are trafficking, course there's the shelf life of the drug and the effect of temperature changes and moisture content on the drug itself...we have a natural "pain killer" that our body produces - it's called adrenalin that will get us through, like it or not - don't cause potential problems but introducing someone to a highly addictive drug when it's not necessary