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Fentanyl is a mu opiate agonist which is occasionally abused by medical personnel who have ready access to the drug. We examined in healthy volunteers (N=13) the subjective and psychomotor-impairing effects of intravenous fentanyl (0–100 µg/70 kg). A randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover design was used in which subjects were injected with 0, 25 (N=6), 50 and 100 µg/70 kg fentanyl in a double-blind fashion. Subjects completed several questionnaires commonly used in abuse liability testing studies before drug injection and at periodic intervals for up to 3 h after drug injection. Subjects also completed several psychomotor tests at these times. Some aspects of psychomotor functioning (e.g., eye-hand coordination) were impaired by fentanyl. Fentanyl produced dose-related increases in ratings of “high” and “sedated,” but also tended to produce dysphoria and somatic symptomatology. Most …