Carisoprodol Soma


Carisoprodol is a muscle relaxant known in the US as Soma, and Sanoma and Carisoma in the UK and elsewhere. It acts as a painkiller for treating various types of pain, including those caused by muscle spasm. It has analgesic-sparing (potentiating) effects on opioid analgesics. It is available on prescription alone or as a formulation with aspirin, codeine, and caffeine.

Carisoprodol is a centrally-acting skeletal muscle relaxant whose safety and efficacy is well established. However, it has become a drug of abuse because it is a pro-drug for meprobamate and a potentiator of hydrocodone, dihydrocodeine, codeine and similar drugs. Numerous cases of dependence, withdrawal, and abuse have been reported. It is now a controlled substance in several parts of the world, including several of the United States. It’s a seriously major keyword for spammers. I counted 23 of 167 spam messages that arrived in just one of my email accounts overnight.

Not to be confused with: Soma – a ritual drink used by the early Indo-Aryan and the later Vedic and Persian cultures. Frequently revered for its energizing qualities. It was prepared by extracting juice from the stalks of a certain plant, although no one knows for certain which plant, speculation points to ephedra, psilocybin mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, blue lotus, Cannabis, or even honey.

Also not to be confused with the fictional drug, soma, of Huxley’s Brave New World. Everyone is encouraged to consume soma in the story, as an enjoyable, hangover-free “vacation”, developed expressly for this purpose and to preclude the need for religious experiences. It is probably an historical allusion to the soma of the Indo-Aryan ancestors of the present day peoples of India.