B is for Buprenorphine 💊 Traditional Cache

#2  Drug Alphabet Series

This series combines two of my favourite "hobbies" - drugs and geocaching. It will inform you about some drugs ie. medicines that you may come across in your lifetime, treating a wide range of medical conditions; and also take you to some interesting places on the Sunshine Coast that you may not have been to before.

Buprenorphine (C₂₉H₄₁NO₄) is used to treat opioid addiction in high doses, acute moderate to severe pain in low doses and chronic pain in very low doses. It is a semisynthetic partial opioid receptor agonist which has a ceiling response above which an increase in dose does not produce an additional increase in effect; and reduces withdrawal symptoms and craving for opioids in opioid dependence. Common side effects include: nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, low blood pressure, dry mouth, dyspepsia and constipation (as with other opioid drugs). Buprenorphine is available in several dosage forms such as sublingual tablets, sublingual film and transdermal patches. Researchers at Reckitt Benckiser spent 10 years attempting to synthesize an opioid which retained desirable analgesic effect of morphine but with less undesirable effects such as addiction. Human trials began in 1971 and it was released onto the market for use in pain in 1982 and for opioid addiction in 2002.

The original cache was a tube with a guardian snail on its lid, but version #3 or 4 is a more common cache type. Hidden in a pleasant park with canal views. BBQ and picnic tables nearby. (Inside the original cache you will find Clue #1 which you will need to find the final cache in the Drug Alphabet series, GC6F8H0 “Z is for Zolpidem”. Please take note of the clue and leave it in the cache for the next finder.) Now with the other missing, I will note the clue here for those of you interested: S26 43._ _ _.

FTF prize is a "happy pill" with a message inside. Please do not swallow!