Pulverizing it will make it an instant release med. Simply breaking it, as stated above will only increase the speed odf release by the amount of the surface area that has been generated by the break. The polymerized materials that comprise the matrix that makes these pill time released bind the drug well, and are only slowly dissolved as they pass through the GI tract. A pill cut in half has an increased surface area, but it is not increased by that much. A powdered pill is effectively an IR.

On a side note, there is a new formulation that just got patented that will include an opiate antagonist in the mix, that is encapsulated in an insoluble matrix, so if the pill is not crushed, the antagonist will not be released, and the XR version of the medication will work as normal.

If the pill is crushed, the antagonis is exposed to the GI tract, and will counteract the effects of the opiate medication, making current trends of abuse useless, that is, until someone chemhacks it and figures out how to bypass this measure..