Hydrocodone can be injected but is not customarily done so intravenously.
The 23. March 1943 FDA approval of hydrocodone in the United States was accompanied with another law mandating that it must be mixed with at least one other ingredient, which for most of history has ranged from guaifenesin to homatropine to paracetamol, aspirin, phenacetin and ibuprofen, As invented in 1920, the orignal German product Dicodid was just like the same company's Dilaudid -- a couple of strengths of tiny tablets, some liquids, and an injectable. But it, like dihydrocodeine, was used almost exclusively as a deep subcutaneous shot. Injectable hydrocodone was never marketed in the United States, the source of 100 per cent and eaters of almost 100 per cent of hydrocodone since production ended on the Continent earlier this century,
They already had Dilaudid, and there was always worry about the histamine release, as with codeine, although it is much less. That is why IV hydrocodone did not catch on. I've done it with impunity but I don't think others should, because I haven't had a moment in many, many years without high doses of at least two antihistamines or drugs with antihistamine side effects pumping through me. It is also wasteful and beside the point -- you want hydrocodone to get that first pass through the liver because it turns it into hydromorphone.
Injectable oxycodone, on the other hand, was big in those days and known as Eukodol and in a glorious combination product called Scophedal. It has an entire chain of active metabolites and works strongly itself. Parenteral use seems to emphasise the components of the impact of the drug which are more like C-Jam.
It is hard to imagine this changing in the current climate. When the law mandating adulteration of hydrocodone with, usually paracetamol, was repealed, drug manufacturer Zogenix invented an extended release product, Zohydro, which Clowngress, led by Senator Kelly Ayotte (Republican, New Hampshire) and Senator Joe Manchin (Democrat, West Virginia) tried to pass a law to ban. No dice, you penguin-fucking Bolshevik motherfuckers.
Well, in the time since, Zogenix has taken the same route as Vidkun Quisling and been very enthusiastic about the government's corrupt, hysterical, ill-informed, and unscientific pontifications about abuse-proof formulations of other opioids. Their blasphemous MS Contin imitation is dog shit. Fuck em. Fuck em in the arsehole with a big rubber dick.
I had the honour of attending a drinking and hydrocodone party in Montréal the Thursday after the 2016 general election in the United States celebrating the defeat of Senator Ayotte that past Tuesday. Others were held that week in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Burlington, Vermont, and Manchester, NH as well as other locations. To Senator Manchin they said: "Don't Laugh -- You're Next!"