It is not always marijuana or other street drugs, but drugs that are used without a valid prescription, he said.

They had nothing to say to one another; the drug said all things for them.

Some experts suggested that the drugs that lower blood pressure actually increased peoples' risk for heart attacks, he said.

But drug dealing continued to plague 129th Street and many of the surrounding blocks, residents said.

Those here acknowledge that drugs are consumed, but say drug use is no greater here than in the city.

The company's other drugs in the program cost more, Ms. Meeker said.

Doctors who studied the drug said it greatly helped some patients, did little or nothing for many, and greatly harmed others.

"But no one knows which patient is on what drug," Henry said.

The drugs will not cure abnormal pain, said Dr. Price, but might control it so that people can live normal lives.

"The best legal drug in the world," he said with a grin.