USA Today reports that OxyContin is a gateway drug to heroin use

The recent article details rising instances of heroin abuse in upper-class neighbourhoods in Charlotte, NC and is reporting findings that users who check in to the detox ward at the Carolinas Medical Center are often the result of opiate addictions that start with OxyContin and Vicodin abuse.

The center analyzed their patients ZIP codes to track where the herion addictions have become problematic in communities, and, according to the center's Robert Martin, their patients suffering from heroin addition come from the five best neighbourhoods.

He states that as addicts are no longer able to obtain legitimate prescriptions, many turn to illegal drugs as an alternative. Because prescription painkillers are harder to obtain, many addicts will begin using heroin, which has caused spikes of overdoses, crime, and other public health issues.

  "When you switch to heroin, you don't know what's in there from batch to batch," says Karen Simone, director of the Northern New England Poison Center, which in September documented a spike in heroin overdoses in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. "It's a big jump to go to heroin. It may be strong; it may be weak. They don't know what they are getting. Suddenly, the whole game changes."

Full story here.

U.S. FDA Bans Generic OxyContin Fearing Abuse

The United States Food and Drug Administration has recently ruled that generic versions of the popular painkiller OxyContin will have to adhere to recent formula changes designed to make the drug harder to abuse.

 The FDA stated that allowing generic versions of the drug to be manufactured would be unacceptable because it would "pose an increased potential for certain types of abuse.

 This decision is a victory for Purdue Pharma LP, which has been manufacturing a version of the drug that is designed to be more difficult to crush, break or dissolve with the same long-lasting and intense results, as in recent years instances of addiction stemming from crushing and shorting entire doses at once began to soar.