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OxyContin Use Spreading Among Addicts Usually reserved for terminally ill patients, drugs like OxyContin are becoming increasingly popular among drug addicts. OxyContin, a strong and long lasting narcotic painkiller that is similar to morphine, has become the latest addition to the pharmacopoeia of illicit drugs for sale on the black market. It may seem that with all the federal regulations barring anyone less than terminally ill to be prescribed the drug that this wouldn't happen. Although, as drug pushers find new ways to get the drug, either through using terminally ill patients to “farm” the drug from numerous doctors or through more direct means such as breaking into pharmacies or intercepting shipments of the drug, it is becoming increasingly available. According to a recent New York Times article by Francis X. Clines and Barry Meier, in one area of Kentucky 85 to 90 percent of the police field work is now related to OxyContin. The article also states that the drug is a morphine-like substance also found in drugs like Tylox and Percodan, although in those drugs the active ingredient, oxycodone, is concentrated in as little as 5 milligrams, in OxyContin it is as high as 160 milligrams. This increases the danger of lethal overdose in inexperienced users and in Kentucky the death toll has numbered 59 since last January, according to a quote from the US attorney from the eastern district of that state in the New York Times. The National Drug Intelligence Center has issued a recent bulletin in which it is stated that the drug’s spread on the illicit market is concentrated primarily in the Eastern States but is surfacing as far west as California. ©2002 Narconon of Northern California. All rights reserved. Narconon and the the Narconon logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better Living and Education International and are used with its permission. |
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