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.

Are OxyContin and Oxycodone different?

As a matter of fact, there are differences between OxyContin and oxycodone, although they are obviously related. Actually, oxycodone is the main active ingredient used in many pain relievers, which include OxyContin - so, since OxyContin contains oxycodone, some people tend to get confused about in what ways they are distinct.

Both OxyContin and oxycodone are addictive if not used properly and with medical observation. To have a doctor monitor the use of these drugs is important to minimize the addiction risk. However, the forms of addiction vary because the drugs are different, even though they have the same active substance - so, it is important to understand the differences between OxyContin and oxycodone.

The main difference is the time-release of the substances, or the time they will have effects over the body. Oxycodone has an immediate release, and wears of quickly: in 4 to 6 hours. This means the patient using oxycodone - or someone suffering with an addiction - should have to take the substance more frequently.

OxyContin, on the other hand, has a time-release formula which allows it to act over a longer time-span: up to 12 hours. It is easy to understand the medical need of this: allowing the person to sleep the whole night without having to wake up for medication.

Some people spread the myth that oxycodone addiction would be more "dangerous" than OxyContin. This is untrue - the use of both medications should be accompanied by a professional, and in case there is an addiction of either one, it is important to search for help as early as possible. Both addiction are extremely problematic for both the person's health and social life, and should not be taken lightly.

Withdrawal Symptons of Oxycontin

If you're thinking of withdrawing from oxycontin use, I applaud you. You definitely came to the right place. This is the best decision you've ever made. For that, I have a quick list for you. Good luck!

• Hot and cold sweats: This can be treated by cold baths and the use of blankets.
• Heart palpitations: These can be treated by breathing and relaxation techniques.
• Constant pain in the person’s joints and muscles: Taking an over-the-counter pain medication such as Aspirin can treat this.
• Nausea and vomiting: Taking an over-the-counter medication such as Coke syrup can treat this.
• Diarrhea: Eating blueberries can treat this.
• Watery eyes and excessive yawning: There is nothing that can be done for these symptoms.
• Dry mouth, sore throat, gums or tongue: Doctors suggest sipping ice water or fruit juice and chewing gum.
• Headaches: Warm baths or showers and relaxation or meditation techniques can treat these.
• Irregularity: Adding more raw fruits, raw vegetables and whole grain cereals, as well as drinking between six and eight glasses of water each day can treat this.
• Trouble sleeping: Relaxation and meditation techniques can be used to treat this. It also helps if the patient does not drink any beverages that have caffeine in them after 6PM at night.
• Fatigue (feeling tired all of the time): Taking naps can treat this. During Oxycontin withdrawal your body needs a chance to heal so you cannot push yourself too much or expect too much of yourself.
• Hunger: Finding something that is low calorie and nutritional to eat can help this.
• Tenseness, irritability and depression: Hot baths and exercise can treat these symptoms.
• Coughing: Sipping on warm herbal tea or sucking on cough drops or hard candy can treat this.

Some Facts About Oxycontin

OxyContin abuse started in rural Maine, Ketucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. OxyContin is a legal prescription pain killer used for treatment of moderate to severe pain. Street names for OxyContin include: Hillbill Heroin, Oxy, and Oxycotton.

The abusers of OxyContin typically participate in doctor shopping, faking injury, and prescription fraud in order to keep thier supply. There is a black market for OxyContin in which the drug is brought illegally into the country.

Oxycontin is available in tablet form. The abusers of OxyContin break down the tablets in order to cause a faster release of the drug.

The tablets are chewed, liguified and injected, and crused and smoked. Like many other painkillers the body quickly builds up a tolerance to OxyContin. Causing the user to take more and more of the drug in order to achieve a desired effect, this leads to drug addiction and the risk of drug overdose. An overdose will cause severe respiratroy depression that can lead to death.

Stopping OxyContin use will cause withdrawal symptoms within the individual. It is suggested that the use of OxyContin should be stepped down or an individual weaned off of the drug. Withdrawal symptoms include aggitation, pain, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes, and leg muscle twitching.

Brain Changes May Be Caused By Oxycontin Abuse

According to US researchers, adolescent brains exposed to the painkiller Oxycontin can sustain lifelong and permanent changes in their reward system.

Mary Jeanne Kreek of Rockefeller University compared levels of the chemical dopamine in adolescent and adult mice in response to increasing doses of the painkiller.

First author Yong Zhang, a research associate, and colleagues found that adolescent mice self-administered Oxycontin less frequently than adults, suggesting that adolescents were more sensitive to its rewarding effects.

The adolescent mice, when re-exposed to a low dose of the drug as adults, also had significantly higher dopamine levels in the brain's reward center compared to adult mice newly exposed to the drug, the researchers said.

OxyContin Addiction or Dependence?

Pain patients may sometimes develop a physical dependence during treatment with opioids such as OxyContin. This is not an addiction. A gradual decrease of the medication dose over time, as the pain is resolving, brings the former pain patient to a drug-free state without any craving for repeated doses of the drug.

This is the difference between the formerly-dependent pain patient who has now been withdrawn from medication and the addicted patient:

The patient addicted to OxyContin continues to have a severe and uncontrollable craving that almost always leads to eventual relapse in the absence of adequate treatment. It is this uncontrollable craving for another “rush” of the drug that differentiates the “detoxified” but opiate addicted patient from the former-pain patient.

Theoretically, an OxyContin abuser might develop a physical dependence, but obtain treatment in the first few months of abuse, before becoming addicted. In this case, supervised withdrawal (detoxification) followed by a few months of abstinence-oriented treatment might be sufficient for the non-addicted patient who abuses OxyContin.

If, however, this patient subsequently relapses to OxyContin abuse, then that would support a diagnosis of opioid addiction. After several relapses to opioid abuse, it becomes clear that a patient will require long-term treatment for the opioid addiction.

Oxycontin Abuse Continue To Rise

The Federal Drug Administration approved OxyContin in late 1995 and the drug was put on the market in early 1996. Between that time and 2000, prescriptions for the drug have increased by 2,000 percent. Abusers discovered that they could get a powerful heroin-like high by crushing the pill and injecting, swallowing and inhaling the powder.

Abuse of OxyContin, the nation's best selling prescription painkiller, began in Maine and Virginia, spread to Kentucky and West Virginia and moved into Ohio about two years ago. Narcotics and health officials now say that OxyContin has become the pill of choice for many addicts. OxyContin is designed to treat moderate to severe, chronic pain. The drug's classification requires patients to present a written prescription to a pharmacist. Its time-released form allows patients to take it once every 12 hours.

Abuse of the drug has led to higher rate of overdose deaths and narcotics crimes. Oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin, was detected in 56 cases where toxicology tests were performed in 2000 and 2001. Of those people, 23 took fatal doses of the drug.

When will this problem ever end? Is there even a solution in the near future?

Mechanism of Oxycontin

The chemical structure of oxycodone is the methylether of oxymorphone: 3-Methyl-oxymorphone. OxyContin is an opiate agonist and these opiate agonists provide pain relief by acting on opioid receptors in the spinal cord, brain, and possibly in the tissues directly. Opioids, natural or synthetic classes of drugs that act like morphine, are the most effective pain relievers available today. Oxycodone is a central nervous system depressant. This means that it acts by stimulating the opioid receptors found in the central nervous system that activate responses ranging from analgesia-pain relief to respiratory depression to euphoria. The trouble is that people who take the drug repeatedly can develop a tolerance or resistance to the drug's effects, but overdose of oxycodone could be fatal in a person never exposed to oxycodone or another opioid. Good thing about it is that most individuals who are prescribed OxyContin will not become addicted, although they may become dependent on the drug and will experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop using it.

Important Things You Need To Know About Oxycontin

Oxycontin may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person it was prescribed for. Oxycontin should never be shared with another person, especially someone who has a history of drug abuse or addiction. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it.

Do not drink alcohol while you are taking oxycontin. Dangerous side effects or death can occur when alcohol is combined with a narcotic pain medicine. Check your food and medicine labels to be sure these products do not contain alcohol.

Never take more than your prescribed dose of oxycontin. Tell your doctor if the medicine seems to stop working as well in relieving your pain.

Oxycontin can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert.

Do not stop using oxycontin suddenly, or you could have unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Talk to your doctor about how to avoid withdrawal symptoms when stopping the medication.

Oxycontin Fast Facts

Overview: You'd have had to be way out in the boonies to have missed the media buzz about OxyContin lately. And ironically, if that's where you were, that's one of the places you'd have been most likely to bump into the potent new painkiller. Its early user base in rural areas did earn it the made-for-media nickname of "hillbilly heroin," but OxyContin turned out to be anything but a regional problem or a media myth, and users in the real world quickly proved it can cause the same type of abuse and addiction it was designed to prevent.

Clearly, a fresh look at OxyContin is overdue. That's especially true since, like most drugs, OxyContin isn't all good or bad. Still, its darker, down side can be very dark and very down -- and very hard to handle.

Street Names: OC, Oxy, cotton, killer.

Appearance: Tablets/caplets with "OC" em-bossed on one side, "10," "20," "40," "80" or "160" on the other. (Numbers reflect mg dosage.)

Medical Uses: OxyContin is used to reduce chronic pain, especially the pain associated with severe injuries, fractures, and cancer.

Actions/Effects: OxyContin differs from other forms of oxycodone (like Vicodin® and Percodan®) in only one way: The oxycodone in OxyContin is a "sustained-release" form of the drug, which means that OxyContin tablets pack higher doses of oxycodone than would otherwise be safe, since the drug is designed to be released more slowly. But users quickly discovered that, by simply chewing the tablets or crushing and sniffing them, all the oxycodone in a tablet can be released at once, in a huge, heroin-like rush of oblivion. And a new drug problem was born.

Risks: Defeating its sustained-release feature eliminates OxyContin's safety margin, making it as addictive and deadly as other narcotics. Oxy abusers found out about that first, too, faster than the media could say, "hillbilly heroin."

Trends: Although OxyContin has only been available as a prescription drug since 1996, it quickly found favor on the street. According to national surveys, 3.5 million Americans 12 and older admitted nonmedical use by 2005, while the number of high school seniors reporting use in the previous year stood at 4.3 percent in 2006.

Demographics: Since OxyContin is a form of oxycodone, its impact can best be seen by contrasting oxycodone-related emergency room admissions before and after its 1996 introduction. According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, the number of such admissions jumped from 3,290 in 1996 to 42,810 in 2005.

Morphine Dependency Blocked By Single Genetic Change

Morphine’s serious side effect as a pain killer – its potential to create dependency – has been almost completely eliminated in research with mice by genetically modifying a single trait on the surface of neurons. The study scientists think a drug can be developed to similarly block dependency.

The scientists were led by Jennifer Whistler, PhD, an investigator in the UCSF-affiliated Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, and associate professor of neurology at UCSF.

Millions of people in the U.S. are given the opiate drug morphine for extreme pain caused by cancer, surgery, nerve damage and other conditions. It remains the pain killer of choice for many types of short-term pain, such as surgery, according to Whistler, but it is less useful for the treatment of chronic pain because its effectiveness decreases with continued use in a process called tolerance. As a consequence, an increasingly larger dose is required to treat the pain, thereby increasing the chance of addiction.

The body’s natural pain killers, such as endorphins, ease pain by first binding to receptors on the surface of neurons. The receptors cycle on and off “like a light switch,” Whistler says, regulating the intake of endorphin. This crucial control is absent when the neurons encounter morphine. The researchers’ strategy in their study was to try to trick neurons into responding to morphine in the more regulated way.

Strong evidence suggests that the natural on-off cycling occurs because the endorphin receptor withdraws from the cell surface, toward the cell’s interior, Whistler says. The migration from the cell surface is called endocytosis.
When the neuron receptors encounter morphine the light switch is broken, and the nervous system responds by becoming more tolerant of the drug, making the recipient more dependent on the drug.

To demonstrate their hunch that morphine’s unwanted effects were caused by the failure of its receptor to withdraw from the cell surface, the researchers genetically engineered mice with a single difference from normal mice: Receptors that encounter morphine in these mice can undergo endocytosis, as they normally do in the presence of endorphins. The researchers showed that with this single change, morphine remained an excellent pain killer without inducing tolerance and dependence.

“As more pain medications are being removed from the market, new strategies to overcome chronic pain become crucial,” Whistler says. “If new opiate drugs can be developed with morphine’s pain killing properties but also with the ability to promote endocytosis, they could be less likely to cause the serious side effects of tolerance and dependence.”

More Reasons Not To Take Oxycontin

We already know a lot of side effects related to taking oxycontin but it seems that we just keep finding more. So, here's another list of side effects just for you.

Taking Habit Forming Drugs
Misuse or Excessive Use of Drugs
Epileptic Seizure
Slow Heartbeat
Abnormal Heart Rhythm
Abnormally Low Blood Pressure
Asthma Attack
Significant Decrease in Lung Function
Chronic Lung or Breathing Passage Problem
Stomach or Intestinal Tract Operation
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Liver Problems
Disease of the Gallbladder
Spasm of a Bile Duct Tract
Urinary Tract Surgery
Kidney Disease
Narrowing of the Tube that Empties Urine From the Bladder, Enlarged Prostate
Severe Bloody Diarrhea from Antibiotics
Lesion of Brain
Abnormal Nervous System
Function Affecting Mental Alertness
Head Injury
Toxin from Microorganisms causing Diarrhea
Pressure Within the Skull
Underactive Thyroid
Intense Abdominal Pain
Addison's Disease
Mood Changes
Having Thoughts of Suicide

Large Family Study Pinpoints Genetic Linkage In Drug Addiction

Based on data obtained from one of the largest family sets of its kind, Yale School of Medicine researchers have identified a genetic linkage for dependence on drugs such as heroin, morphine and oxycontin.

The lead author, Joel Gelernter, M.D., professor in the Department of Psychiatry, said the researchers recruited a sample of 393 small families, most with at least two individuals with opioid dependence. They then searched genetic signposts throughout the entire genome in an effort to identify markers that, within the same family, would show that individuals who share the illness also share marker alleles, or gene variants.

This information allowed the team to identify where genes influencing opioid dependence are located. Gelernter said the researchers found evidence of gene linkage for opioid dependence. They also found strong evidence of linkage in the family groups for the symptom cluster traits characterized by dependence on substances other than opioids, specifically, alcohol, cocaine and tobacco.

"These results provide a first basis to identify genes for opioid dependence from a genome-wide investigation," Gelernter said. "Research in the laboratory now is focused on finding specific genes that modify risk for opioid dependence."

He said that although environment plays a significant role, it is well established that substance dependence risk is also genetically influenced. Understanding the genetic factors that influence opioid dependence risk would represent major progress toward understanding the basic biology of the disorder.

"Once specific genes that increase or decrease risk are known, we will be in a better position to figure out exactly what the environmental factors might be and, perhaps, how they can be modified to protect people who are genetically at risk," Gelernter said.

Overdose Deaths Spike

The number of deaths caused by fatal combinations of prescription medications with alcohol or street drugs has exploded in recent years in part because patients are being released from hospitals early, according to researchers. Such deaths rocketed from 92 in 1983 to 3,792 in 2004, reports MSNBC.

“The increase is very, very steep compared with almost any other cause of death,” said the lead researcher. The numbers are a sign that patients are having trouble coping with truncated hospital stays, reduced clinical follow-up, and more powerful drugs, he said. "In an effort to save money, more of the burden of quality control has been placed on the shoulders of the patient,” he said.

Symptoms of Prescription Drug Abuse

Prescription drug abuse rarely happens in people who need commonly abused painkillers, sedatives or stimulants to treat a medical condition. But it can be difficult for a doctor to distinguish between a person who needs a larger dose to control his or her pain and a person who's abusing prescription painkillers.

In general, the following behaviors are warning signs of prescription drug abuse:

* Continually "losing" prescriptions, so more prescriptions must be written
* Seeking prescriptions from more than one doctor
* Taking higher doses despite warnings
* Stealing, forging or selling prescriptions
* Excessive mood swings

Here is a list of symptoms on specific drugs:

* Opioid painkillers, such as oxycodone (OxyContin) and those containing hydrocodone (Vicodin)
* Sedatives and tranquilizers, such as diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan)
* Stimulants, such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) — commonly used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Each category has its own specific symptoms of use or abuse.

Opioid painkillers

* Constipation
* Depression
* Low blood pressure
* Decreased respiration rate
* Confusion

Sedatives and tranquilizers

* Drowsiness
* Confusion
* Unsteady gait
* Impaired judgment
* Involuntary and rapid movement of the eyeball

Stimulants

* Weight loss
* Agitation
* Irritability
* Insomnia
* High blood pressure
* Irregular heartbeat

Talk to your doctor if you think anyone in your family, including yourself, may be abusing prescription drugs. It may save a life or your own.

Knoxville doc gets 13 years for oxycontin drug ring

A federal judge today ordered a Knoxville doctor to prison for 13 years for heading up an oxycontin drug ring.

U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan gave Dr. Sanford Kent Myers, 54, a break for his work as an informant but deemed him in need of serious punishment. Myers was charged with conspiracy to distribute oxycontin.

"This defendant wrote during this conspiracy prescriptions for a total of 30,000 oxycontin pills," Varlan said.

Myers admitted at a hearing earlier this year that he wrote prescriptions that co-defendant J. Christopher Ridenour then doled out to people who were paid $250 to get them filled.

Ridenour has admitted that he then sold the pills and paid Myers with cash and cocaine.

Defense attorneys James A.H. Bell and Richard Holcomb told Varlan that Myers had accepted Christ since his arrest and now is a changed man. They also cited his cooperation with authorities.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Weddle countered that Myers only began cooperating after Ridenour agreed to serve as a snitch against the doctor.

When OxyContin Use Becomes OxyContin Abuse

Opioid drugs, such as oxycodone, work primarily through their interaction with the mu opioid receptors, especially in the brain and spinal cord. When activated, these receptors mediate the drugs' analgesic effects. However, they also mediate the ability to produce the euphoric state. Moreover, opioids like oxycodone have similarities to virtually every other drug of abuse, including nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, in that they elevate levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain pathways that control the experience of pleasure.
Prolonged use of these drugs eventually changes the brain in fundamental and long-lasting ways, explaining why people cannot just quit on their own, and why treatment is essential. In effect, drugs of abuse take over the brain's normal pleasure and motivational systems, moving drug use to the highest priority in the individual's motivational hierarchy, thereby overriding all other motivations and drives. These brain changes, then, are responsible for the compulsion to seek and use drugs that we have come to define as addiction. This is likely the state people are in when they are reportedly "doctor shopping," feigning illnesses, and stealing from pharmacies to obtain the drug.
Addiction to opioids used for legitimate medical purposes under a qualified physician's care is rare. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, however, many physicians limit prescribing powerful opioid pain medications because they believe patients may become addicted to the drugs. Recent evidence suggests that, unlike opioid abusers, most healthy, non drug-abusing patients do not report euphoria after being administered opioids, possibly because their level of pain may reduce some of the opioid's euphoric effects making patients less likely to become abusers.

Oxycontin Gets Black Box Warning

The Food and Drug Administration is beefing up warning labels for doctors prescribing the controversial prescription pain medication OxyContin.

In a "black box warning," the strongest type of warning for an FDA-approved drug, the agency is telling doctors not to prescribe the narcotic with addictive properties similar to morphine except for patients with the most severe, continuous pain. OxyContin "can be abused in a manner similar to other opioid agonists [drugs of its type], legal or illicit," reads the new warning, announced today. "This should be considered when prescribing or dispensing OxyContin in situations where the physician or pharmacist is concerned about an increased risk of misuse, abuse, or diversion" to illegal distribution channels.

The stern warning comes amid continuing reports of abuse and overdose deaths linked to the drug.

Why is OxyContin abused?

According to a DEA statement before the US House of Representatives, inappropriate use of OxyContin became a concern in 2000, and by 2001 it had reached "levels of … abuse never before seen. … DEA has never witnessed such a rapid increase in the abuse and diversion of a pharmaceutical drug product."

Why such an explosion in abuse of OxyContin and not of similar drugs like Percocet and Percodan? It produces a more profound high. According to the FDA, OxyContin's unique "controlled-release formulation" means each tablet contains more oxycodone than these other drugs.

Ironically, it was this very makeup that led officials to believe OxyContin would have less potential for abuse. If taken as directed, it does.

But recreational users have discovered that the tablets can be crushed and then injected or snorted, quickly turning this safe medication into a highly addictive drug. When crushed into powder and snorted, swallowed, or injected, the user receives the entire dose instantly, rather than a slow release stretched out over 12 hours. Abused in this manner, OxyContin acts more like a street drug than a pain reliever, delivering a euphoric, heroin-like high.

Once addicted, users may start shopping around for doctors who will write OxyContin prescriptions without thoroughly checking their medical histories. They may search out the drug on the streets, and may even raid medicine cabinets or steal OxyContin from pharmacies.

WORKING TO STEER KIDS RIGHT

It's never too early to think about prevention.

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, about 30 per cent of Grade 7 students in Ontario have tried alcohol.

That's why Lambton Drug Awareness Action Committee has invited 1,100 Grade 5 students from 25 schools in Sarnia- Lambton to this year's Racing Against Drugs.

The event is scheduled for three days this week, Tuesday through Thursday, at River City Vineyard.

"We have to engage these kids and give them the right information so they can make the right decisions later on in life," says committee spokesperson Terry Easterby. "We try to get to them before they get into the situations they'll start facing in Grades 6, 7, 8 where there is a lot of peer pressure."

The Racing Against Drugs program is designed to increase awareness and understanding about the negative consequences of substance misuse.

"Marijuana is a huge issue," said Const. Mel Wright of Sarnia Police Service's community policing unit.

Results from a 2007 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey found that 3.7 per cent of Grade 7 students had smoked marijuana in the previous year and the number increases to 44 per cent by Grade 12.

Wright said he finds when talking to students that marijuana is often the most misunderstood substance.

"If you have an attitude towards something you act and react to what you believe," Wright said, using the use of seat belts as an example. "If you believe they are more dangerous than not wearing them your less likely to use them."

When marijuana use is discussed with students, says Wright, "a lot of kids talk about marijuana being a plant that grows naturally" and they question how it could be dangerous.

Wright said young people are also exposed to painkillers, such as oxycontin and oxycocet for non-medicinal use.

"What's happening is the numbers are very close for marijuana use to opioid pain killers," said Wright. "What we're finding now is kids are getting their hands on them. So, if you look at Grade 8 students, almost one in four said they had tried these opioid pain killers for non-medicinal reasons."

Racing Against Drugs is a 12-station program featuring an eight-lane, 72-foot trioval slot track sponsored by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The message is drug-free living through auto racing, an exciting high-profile sport that doesn't tolerate substance abuse.

In addition to the race track, there are 10 other pit stops ( stations ) manned by community groups promoting healthy, drug-free living.

Improper Disposal Of Medications Can Lead To Abuse and Danger

According to health officials, ineffective disposal of unwanted or expired medications can lead to abuse, pollution or accidental ingestion.

Because they may have been concerned about children or others accidentally ingesting unwanted or expired drugs, many consumers have traditionally disposed of them by flushing them down the toilet or a drain. Donna Artery, a pharmacist with the Wyoming Department of Health, said this may cause pollution in wastewater that can harm fish and other aquatic wildlife. "Unintentional human exposure to the chemicals found in medications can also happen when the water is eventually reused," she said.

"The trash is really the best way to get rid of the medicines you don't need anymore to ensure no one swallows them either by accident or on purpose," Artery said. "And it's a good idea to modify the contents to discourage consumption."

Anything for a Pill

Oxycontin addiction has come a long way from being a miracle drug to what it is today. Oxycontin abusers have been having a hard time getting any oxycontin lately especially from pharmacies and doctor's offices. But that doesn't stop them.

They have become very imaginative and aggressive as well. The effect? They are straining the ERs! Previously, they were armed bandits, cat burglars, forgers to name a few but this is new. The great lengths that they go for oxycontin is incredible to say the least. Some of the drug abusers go to extraordinary lengths to convince doctors they are legitimate patients in need of the drug, sometimes even endangering those doctors, and ultimately even keeping legitimate patients from getting it.

Looking for Prescription Drugs? Sign a Contract

Yup, some doctors in Franklin County are trying to combat the abuse of prescription drugs by, get this.... making the patient sign a contract! What good is that? Well, according to them, the patients who sign are then required to undergo random urine testing and provide information about their medical care.

According to the doctors, this so-called "narcotics contract" will be able to help in finding people who are seeking to abuse powerful pain drugs such as oxycontin.

"It's one thing for us to try and diagnose a problem but to try to figure out whether a patient is actually telling the truth. It becomes not a diagnosis but an investigation," said Dr. Edward Haak, director of emergency medicine at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans.

Haak said he's witnessed the effects of prescription drug abuse in the hospital's emergency department.

"We've had more holes in the walls from people kicking because they weren't getting meds," he said. "I had to do something, and I couldn't do it myself."

The hospital boosted security because of the increased risks from people struggling with drug addiction, said JoAnn Manahan, the head nurse in the emergency department.

Eventually, the goal of this "contract" is to build a database for physicians and pharmacists that will track drug prescriptions.

Prescription Drugs Kill 300 Percent More Americans than Illegal Drugs

A recent report indicated that prescription has overtaken illegal drugs as a major cause of death in the US. As sad as this report is, it is actually worse since prescription drugs have taken over illegal drugs by as much as 300 percent.

An analysis of 168,900 autopsies conducted in Florida in 2007 found that three times as many people were killed by legal drugs as by cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines put together. According to state law enforcement officials, this is a sign of a burgeoning prescription drug abuse problem.

Across the country, prescription drugs have become an increasingly popular alternative to the more difficult to acquire illegal drugs. Even as illegal drug use among teenagers have fallen, prescription drug abuse has increased. For example, while 4 percent of U.S. 12th graders were using Oxycontin in 2002, by 2005 that number had increased to 5.5 percent.

It's not hard for teens to come by prescription drugs, according to Sgt. Tracy Busby, supervisor of the Calaveras County, Calif., Sheriff's Office narcotics unit.

"You go to every medicine cabinet in the county, and I bet you're going to find some sort of prescription medicine in 95 percent of them," he said.

Adults can acquire prescriptions by faking injuries, or by visiting multiple doctors and pharmacies for the same health complaint. Some people get more drugs than they expect to need, then sell the extras.

"You have health care providers involved, you have doctor shoppers, and then there are crimes like robbing drug shipments," said Jeff Beasley of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "There is a multitude of ways to get these drugs, and that's what makes things complicated."

To think that these were previously hailed as miracle drugs. Today, they are a nightmare for friends and family members of victims.

Suicide rate climbs among middle-age adults

Recently, suicide rates have been on a climb again, after falling for more than a decade. It was found that virtually all of the increase was attributable to a nearly 16 percent jump in suicides among people ages 40 to 64, a group not commonly seen as high risk.

One possibility is thought to be the concurrent increase in abuse of prescription pain pills, such as OxyContin. Studies have shown that people who abuse drugs are at greater risk for suicide. Another possible explanation is the drop in hormone-replacement therapy after it was linked to health risks in 2002. Women who gave up the drugs or decided not to take them might have been more susceptible to depression and, potentially, suicide.

This item really shows the potential danger of oxycontin, not just physically but mentally as well. It's high time to really make a change for the better and it starts by quitting the addiction that has led many to perish.

"Broken Heart Syndrome" Can Result From Opioid Withdrawal

Oxycontin is also an opioid and the withdrawal symptoms can be just as hard and risky. Based on a study about opioid withdrawal, it shows that the abrupt withdrawal from high-dose opioids or the use of cocaine increase the risk of cardiac event.

The findings shed light on "broken heart syndrome," a still somewhat uncommon disorder first described in Japan 15 years ago that mimics a heart attack. Patients may experience shortness of breath and chest pain and, upon hospital admission, go through extensive tests to determine a diagnosis and rule out heart attack.

Opioids such as OxyContin are becoming increasingly common for pain management, the report's authors say. Given the drug's prevalence, physicians should proceed with caution when removing patients from high-dose opioids in order to avoid serious complications and hospitalizations, says Juanita Rivera, M.D., an anesthesiologist with Mayo Clinic Rochester and lead author of the report.

Pills For Sex

An 82 year old man allegedly exchanged his oxycontin for sexual favors from two young women. This is really sad but true nowadays. With the oxycontin addiction going full scale, nothing seems to be stopping it and worse, abusers seem to be getting more and more creative.

The old man has since been charged with trafficking in a controlled substance. I think that there needs to be more control for this because it seems to going haywire. As much as these people are going to hate it, it seems that the only way for them to be in control is to be controlled.

Symptoms Experienced During Detox

If you're planning to withdraw from Oxycontin, you made a wise move. But before doing so, here are a few things to expect during your detox.

• Exhaustion: Feeling tired or fatigued
• Sweats: Hot or cold sweating throughout the day
• Heart palpitations
• Joint or muscle ache
• Constant yawning
• Nausea: The individual may feel very queasy and even experience bouts of vomiting
• Coughing: loud, uncontrollable coughing
• Diarrhea
• Insomnia: Individual may be very restless in the days after he stops taking OxyContin.
• Depression and anxiety: The two most common psychological effects of detox from OxyContin.

Pharmacies Increase as Robber's Target

There have been almost twice as many pharmacy robberies this year in Columbus as bank robberies, and police say OxyContin is the main target.

As of yesterday, there have been a record 56 pharmacy robberies this year compared with 29 bank robberies.

"It's just that the street value of OxyContin is so high; it's just become a lucrative target," Columbus Police Sgt. James Jardine said.

The highly additive pain medication sells on the street for as much as $80 a pill, Jardine said.

On Thursday night, three gunmen entered a West Side Walgreens before closing, and one of them went to the back of the store and bent a metal barrier in front of the pharmacy.

The man pointed a gun at the pharmacist and demanded all of the OxyContin, police say.

Earlier in the week, a father and son were arrested in connection with seven area pharmacy robberies. Ricky Taylor, 47, of Akron, and Tarail Taylor, 24, of Columbus, are accused of stealing OxyContin from mainly chain drugstores, and each has been charged with one count of robbery.

"It does happen in other markets," said Vivika Vergara, a spokeswoman for Walgreens.

"These things are happening, but it's not like an epidemic."

Vergara said Walgreens employees are trained on how to handle robberies. The drugstore chain also has upgraded its video surveillance to capture higher-quality images.

Police are working with pharmacies, Jardine said, to share information and work together to catch criminals.

Jardine said the drug is easy to sell on the streets.

Ernest E. Boyd, executive director of the Ohio Pharmacists Association, said that in the late 1970s robbers sought out amphetamines.

"These things tend to run in cycles," he said. "Sometimes we see lots of forgeries, sometimes we see these."

Back then, however, the robbers likely were junkies who stole the drugs for themselves.

"The dealers are actually doing the robbing now because they see a profit," Jardine said.

This is very sad that robbers would target pharmacies. It seems like nothing is safe anymore and thanks to Oxycontin, it has become much worse.

The Side Effects of Oxycontin

Purdue Pharma has been criticized regarding it's downplaying of the side effects of the drug that they manufactured. Oxycontin, a former miracle drug with deadly effects. OxyContin side effects can range from a dry mouth to death. Derived from an opium seen in other painkillers, OxyContin is much more dangerous because of the high content of oxycodone. Patients have found that they developed OxyContin addiction after receiving prescriptions for the painkiller from their doctor. A drug addiction can be very dangerous because a patient may not realize they have developed an addiction since OxyContin is a legal, prescription drug.

OxyContin side effects can include:

* Constipation
* Confusion
* Dry mouth
* Altered mental state
* Light headed
* Physical addiction
* Dependency
* Death

Todays Generation: Generation Rx

According to a study, around 1 out of 5 teenagers has taken a prescription painkiller such as oxycontin to get high. In fact, the study found that the abuse of prescription painkillers was higher than the abuse of many other illegal drugs including cocaine, crack, Ecstasy, LSD or heroin.

These teens are not aware of the dangers that they are getting themselves into. Here are a few reasons why they prefer these prescription drugs as an alternative to street drugs.

• Close to half of all teens believe using prescription medications to get high is "much safer" than street drugs.
• Close to one-third say prescription painkillers are not addictive.
• When teens were asked why prescription medicine abuse was increasing, "ease of access" was cited as a major factor. The majority cited parents' medicine cabinets, and/or medicine cabinets in the homes of friends, as major access points.

This is a time when we should be more careful with the drugs that we have in our homes. If we can try more natural methods of healing, we won't have to have drugs at home that our children can abuse.

Ten Things Teens and Their Families Should Know about the Dangers of Prescription Painkillers

With the rise in painkiller abuse, here are a list of things you should ponder on. Teens and children are being introduced to recreational use of prescription painkillers at a much younger age than most would expect and are gaining easier access to them. Hopefully, this list can help then make more intelligent and mature decisions.

1. Face the Facts. Denial can prevent you from recognizing a real problem at home. Among youths and adults, non-medical use of prescription painkillers ranked second only to marijuana in illicit drug use according to the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

2. Acknowledge It's All Relative. Legal or not, prescription painkillers are just as harmful as street drugs. Prescription painkillers like Oxycontin are synthetic, the family of drugs from which heroin is derived.

3. Keep an Eye Out for the Graduate. Children as young as 13-15 years old can easily graduate from abusing Oxycontin (a legal opiate drug) to abusing heroin (an illegal opiate drug). The two drugs have similar effects, therefore attracting the same abuse population.

4. Leverage What's Newsworthy. Take advantage of incidents in the news to talk to your family about painkillers. Recently, a teen in Texas was sentenced to probation for providing the painkillers to a friend that died from a resulting overdose. Making an example of a story like this helps to discourage teens from trying drugs.

5. Don't Assume It Can't Be You. You're not necessarily in the clear if your teen is head cheerleader or the class president. Not all kids who abuse prescription drugs are dark, depressed, and troubled. Drug use has become increasingly frequent among a variety of groups of young people.

6. Beware of Emotional Roller-coasters. Changes in a person's normal behavior can be a sign of dependency. Shifts in energy, mood, and concentration may occur as everyday responsibilities become secondary to the need for the relief the prescription provides. Other signs to look for are social withdrawal, desensitized emotions (indifference or disinterest in things that previously brought them pleasure) and increased inactivity.

7. Watch Out for Going Grunge. Personal hygiene may diminish as a result of a drug addiction. Significant weight loss may occur, and glazed eyes may indicate an underlying problem.

8. Become a Micro Manager. If your teen is prescribed a pain-relieving medication, closely monitor the dosage and frequency the drug is ingested. Also, if you or your spouse is prescribed a prescription painkiller, be sure to keep it out of your child's reach and dispose of any extras once you no longer need it.

9. Play it Smart. Listen carefully when your doctor or pharmacist gives instructions for a drug for a family member. Provide your doctor with a complete medical history so he or she is aware of other medications being taken and can prevent a negative interaction. Finally, never increase dosage or the frequency of taking a medication without consulting your physician.

10. Trust Your Instincts. If you suspect that a family member is abusing prescription drugs, consult his or her doctor or seek professional help right away. Medical professionals can refer you to treatment programs but the most important thing is to seek help in a timely matter.

New Version of Oxycontin Sparks Debate

Recently, a new version of the "Hillbilly Heroin" or Oxycontin was presented to the FDA for evaluation. It is said to feature a plastic-like coating that fuses to the tablet, making it harder to crush and turns into a gooey mess if abusers try to inject it.

“These are clearly difficult questions for which there are no easy answers,” Dr. Bob Rappaport, FDA's chief of painkilling drugs, wrote the advisory panel.

Back when Oxycontin was released in 1996, it was hailed as a miracle drug. That was until they discovered that it had a heroin-like effect if crushed, snorted or injected. Since then, there had been a growing number of cases on Oxycontin abuse and addiction as well as deaths.

According to the maker, Purdue Pharma, if someone tries to crush it, the plastic-like coating makes the tablet more likely to break into large fragments instead of a powder, the Stamford, Conn.-based company wrote. The coating renders the drug “a gelatinous mess” when mixed with alcohol or other solvents in attempts to dissolve and inject it, the documents say.

But the FDA cited concerns, including:

Some people who died from OxyContin abuse swallowed the drug without crushing it. Would the new version mislead doctors or patients into thinking OxyContin is less risky than it really is?

Lower doses are set to be reformulated initially, with higher doses converted in the future. Does that increase risk from the higher doses in the meantime?

Moreover, “there is no perfect formulation that can resist all forms of tampering,” FDA's Rappaport wrote. If approved, the new version's label “would have to be carefully crafted so as to avoid the publication of a road map describing how to defeat these changes.”

Hopefully, this new version won't make it into the market. You see, there are no guarantees plus the fact that the formulation is the same, meaning, it will still have the same heroin-like effect once abusers find a way to get around this version.

Easy Access is Reason for Abuse

Recently, a growing number of teens have cited the easy access of drugs such as oxycontin as a reason for the growing number of abuse. They went as far as saying that it's easier to buy oxycontin compared to buying beer.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University asked: "Which is easiest for someone your age to buy: cigarettes, beer, marijuana, or prescription drugs such as Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin or Ritalin, without a prescription?" Nineteen percent of teenagers found it easier to purchase prescription drugs than cigarettes, beer or marijuana, compared with 13 percent a year ago. A quarter of the teens said it is easiest to buy marijuana, with 43 percent of 17-year-olds saying they could buy the drug in less than an hour.

It was also found through this study that most parents don't know where their children are at night and identified a group of "problem parents" whose actions increased the abuse of illegal and prescription drugs among 12-to-17-year-olds.

There are many factors to why this is happening but a big part of it are parents who are clueless to what is going on around them. Parents should be the first to look at this issue as well as talk to their children since everything starts at home.

"Kids think that because these are medicines that are prescribed, they are safe," she said. "The problem is that there is very little difference between the amount they take for a high and the amount that causes an overdose."

Man Arrested for Oxycontin, Gives 32 Aliases

Recently, a man was arrested for speeding along Interstate 90. As the Mower County Sheriff’s Office deputy inspected the car, he found large quantities of oxycontin as well as other prescription drugs. As he was investigating the man regarding the man's identity, he was given 32 aliases as well as 5 date-of-births until the man's identity was verified as a 57-year-old man of Milwaukee, Wis.

This news may sound funny but the case is serious and is a result of oxycontin abuse. He most certainly didn't know what he was doing anymore and it is very sad indeed. Lives are destroyed and wasted because of a silly addiction.

If you're not using oxycontin or other painkillers, better to stay away from those. Your life is worth more than just a funny news article.

Side Effects of Oxycontin Aside from Addiction

We all know that Oxycontin can be addictive. But what are the other side effects that can bring us discomfort. If being addicted to it is not enough to make you stop using it, here are a few more.

• Headache
  
• Dry mouth
  
• Changes in mood
  
• Drowsiness
  
• Confusion
• Sweating
  
• Disturbances of the gut such as diarrhoea, constipation, nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain
  
• Awareness of your heartbeat (palpitations)
• Loss of appetite
  
• Difficulty in breathing (dyspnoea)
  
• Loss of memory (amnesia)
  
• A drop in blood pressure that occurs when going from lying down to sitting or standing, which results in dizziness and lightheadedness (postural hypotension)
  
• Weakness or loss of strength (asthenia)
  
• Skin reactions such as rash and itch
  
• Abnormal dreams
  
• Anxiety
  
• Dizziness/faintness
  
• Twitching

Oxycontine Abuse May Lead Adolescents to Lifelong Addiction

No child wants to be a lifelong addict, but their brains might. Recently, researchers have revealed that adolescent brains exposed to oxycontin may sustain lifelong and permanent changes in their reward system, changes that increase the drug's euphoric properties and make such adolescents more vulnerable to the drug's effects later in adulthood.

During adolescence, the brain undergoes marked changes. For example, the brain's reward pathway increases production of dopamine receptors until mid-adolescence and then either production declines or numbers of receptors decline and by abusing Oxycontin during this developmental period, they may inadvertently trick the brain to keep more of those receptors than it really needs. If these receptors stick around and they are re-exposed to the drug as an adult, the rush of euphoria may be more addictive than the feeling experienced by adults who had never before tried the drug.

It is very scary that despite the early use of oxycontin on young people, little is known about how they differentially affect adolescent brains undergoing developmental change. This is a very good reason for us to keep our children away from oxycontin. We may think we're helping them, but this may actually destroy their lives in the future.

Teens More Easily Hooked than Adults

A recent study has found that teens are more likely to get hooked on Oxycontin than adults. Although the use of illegal drugs by teens have declined, the abuse of prescription drugs such as Oxycontin has been on a rise.

According to researchers, the brain undergoes dramatic changes in adolescence and there is evidence that abusing opioids during this key developmental period may cause permanent brain alterations that increase the likelihood that a teen will be more vulnerable to addiction compared with those who first abuse this drugs as adults.

This is a very scary thought for us parents especially those who are working and who are usually not at home. With this very serious problem, we should always have an open communication with our children and be really good role models.

Remoxy, The Substitute

Recently, there has been word about a new "abuse-resistant" formulation of the widely prescribed opioid pain medication OxyContin. It is widely known that Oxycontin is addictive and is widely abused. Oxycontin abusers have found several ways to bypass the drug's time controlled release mechanism.

This new drug, Remoxy, is said to be impervious to what abusers do to bypass Oxycontin and in other words, Remoxy is designed to thwart those tactics, depriving the user of the quick high he or she seeks.

Remoxy still has to be approved though. But one thing I know, it will most probably be a wait and see period since abusers are known to find ways. Hopefully, Remoxy can deliver on it's promise for all the lives at stake.

Effects of Oxycontin

What is Oxycontin?

Street slang: Killers, OC, OXY, Oxycotton

It is a painkiller that has some comparisons to heroin. It is available in tablet form and is shipped in 4 doses: 10, 20, 40 and 80. It is to be taken every 12 hours because it has a time release formulation. For a while now, the use of Oxycontin has been abused by many and has been a subject of many debates. One thing is for sure, Oxycontin can be deadly as well as addictive. Withdrawal is also difficult and needs medical supervision.
But how bad can it be? Let's look at the effects of using Oxycontin and find out.

Short-term Effects

The most serious risk associated with OxyContin is respiratory depression. Other common side effects are constipation, nausea, sedation, dizziness, vomiting, headache, dry mouth, sweating, and weakness. Taking a large single dose of Oxycontin could cause severe respiratory depression that can lead to death.

Long-term Effects

Chronic use of Oxycontin can result in tolerance for the drugs, which means that users must take higher doses to achieve the same initial effects. Long-term use also can lead to addiction and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced or stopped. To withdraw from Oxycontin, one needs medical supervision.

Alternatives

Taking drugs are very dangerous to our health. If we look around, we will notice that there are other alternatives that are natural. These natural alternatives are known to have no side effects and are 100% safe.

Withdrawal from Oxycontin

Oxycontin, as we all know is an addictive drug and withdrawing from it is just as serious as quitting heroin. The symptoms are felt when the body is accustomed to having Oxycontin in its system and then the drug is suddenly taken away. This is actually not a problem if you take the drug as prescribed. The problem though has stemmed from the abuse of the drug since it's release in 1995.

It has been found that most people who abuse the Oxycontin get around the time release structure of the pill by either crushing, chewing or dissolving the pill in liquid. This bypasses the time release structure and gives the rush of pleasure sought after by drug abusers.

Oxycontin withdrawal is very serious and is not to be done on your own without medical supervision. Here are some of the effects of Oxycontin withdrawal.

* Muscle and bone pain
* Restlessness
* Diarrhea
* Vomiting
* Insomnia
* Cold flashes
* Involuntary leg movements

There are also flu like symptoms when withdrawing from Oxycontin but they can be minimized or avoided altogether with medical supervision otherwise called "detoxification". Contact a reputable facility for Oxycontin withdrawal because this is not something you would want to do on your own and is not considered a "weekend thing".

Pain Killer Addiction

An estimated 5.2 million people used prescription pain relievers in 2006 for non-medical reasons, up from 4.7 million in 2005, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. That's more than twice the 2.4 million people DHHS estimates use cocaine nationwide. According to statistics compiled by the Partnership for a Drug Free America, nearly one in five teens, or a staggering 4.5 million kids age 12-19, reportedly abused prescription medications to get high last year. "Opiates, a type of opioids, are a group of drugs which are medically used to relieve pain. OxyContin and Vicodin are both opiates and it is their pain relieving quality that also makes them so highly addictive," explains Phil Allen, CEO of The Pat Moore Foundation, a non-profit drug detox and treatment center in Orange County, CA, that specializes in opiate detox.

Opioids are chemicals that attach to certain receptors in the brain. They both prevent pain and stimulate the pleasure center in the brain. Allen explains that opiates serve a purpose and that's to deal with short-term pain. There are physicians who prescribe drugs chronically and after a while patients become habituated. They become dependent and if they try to stop withdrawal symptoms set in. People who are depressed, prone to anxiety or alcoholics are more likely to develop an addiction to prescription drugs like OxyContin.

"What makes painkillers so life shattering is that, unlike other drugs, the physical effects of addiction may not be as apparent, even to friends and family. But, the power of addiction is just as strong as any abused drug. The life of a painkiller addict is consumed with getting the drug. That becomes their entire life purpose, to the detriment of everything ... even their own lives."

Read the news article for more information.

FDA Sued by Attorney General over Oxycontin

A 4-year-old citizen petition seeking stronger warnings related to OxyContin has lead the Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, to sue the FDA (US Food & Drug Administration) in attempts to lead them to action.

Abuse of prescription drugs such as OxyContin has disputedly become the greatest drug threat of the nation. Inaction on the part of the FDA is tragically disappointing and could be causing unnecessary death and drug addiction, which leads to many other problems.

"The FDA has irresponsibly and illegally ignored the clear need for warnings about OxyContin prescription practices that promote abuse and addiction," Blumenthal said. "... After four years of proven dosing dangers and Purdue Pharma criminal convictions, the FDA seems in denial... We now need to resort to a court order to force the FDA to take action to warn and protect patients."

Read the whole story.

Demand for Drug Rehab High Among Blue-Collar & Elderly

Pittsburgh - The number of Oxycontin addicts is still so great that demand for drug treatment & rehab centers hasn't diminished.

"We're not seeing a decline in the rate of admissions," said Dr. Neil Capretto, a Vandergrift native who is clinical director of the Gateway Rehabilitation Center.
Many drugs are being abused, but of particular interest to the area is the powerful pain-killer OxyContin.

Part of the reason may be the demographics of the region. There are large numbers of elderly people and blue-collar workers, he said.

Older people tend to have more medical problems ranging from arthritis to cancer and doctors prescribe OxyContin, Capretto said. The pills, meant to manage pain, are getting into the hands of others and ultimately causing pain...and death.

14 Year old dies from OxyContin / Hydrocodone overdose

A 14-year-old boy accused of giving prescription drugs to a 16-year-old who later died of an overdose was arrested Thursday afternoon at his Lake Worth middle school, police said.

The boy is accused of giving the drugs OxyContin and hydrocodone to Richard William Tomerlin and another boy.

As a rule, the names of juvenile criminal suspects are not made public.

Tomerlin spent the night of Jan. 13 at a north Fort Worth apartment complex. When friends could not awaken him the morning of Jan. 14, they called 911. The former Fossil Ridge High School student was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Hospital employees found OxyContin in his pocket.

Utah sees more deaths from Oxycontin, etc than from illicit drugs.

KSL News - "When it comes to drug overdoses, more Utahns are dying from prescription drugs than from drugs that are illegal.
In 2005, taking drugs like Lortab, Oxycontin and the Fentanyl patch killed more Utahns than taking illicit drugs.
And most of the overdoses were accidents--- less than 30 percent of the deaths were suicide or murder.
The average age of an overdose victim last year was 40 years old."
ksl.com - Utah's Online Source for Local News & Information Prescription Drug Overdoses on the Rise: "

Doctor Convicted for trafficking Oxycodone (OxyContin)

Fort Pierce, Florida - Dr. Asuncion Luyao is convicted of trafficking oxycodone, racketeering and manslaughter in the death of a patient. The physician's license was suspended after her arrest a year ago, and she could spend the rest of her life in prison. The upcoming sentencing is in April.
Since the arrest last year, local Florida street prices for OxyCOntin have tripled in price.
The problem continues to grow, and the need is greater for education, prevention and drug rehab centers for those addicted to the powerful pain-killer drug which can easily be abused.

Codex Alimentarius, Health Freedom

Stop Codex Alimentarius and Protect Health Freedom!

Codex Alimentarius is a looming threat to your health and health freedom. If you care about natural health care, you need to know about Codex Alimentarius.

According the official documentation, "The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme." Allegedly, "the main purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations."
Unfortunately, the stated purposes of the organization actually work against the natural health industry. They intend to all but eliminate vitamin & mineral supplements, destroy organic farming principles and promote the use of pharmaceutical prescription drugs. Natural medicine will become a thing of the past, as will our health as a country.

Codex Alimentarius is a looming threat to your health and health
freedom. If you care about natural health care, visit healthfreedomusa.org to
stop Codex Alimentarius and protect health freedom!

.

Florida Marlins: Suspended player had "problem" with OxyContin

Jeff Allison, first round draft pick for Major League Baseball's Florida Marlins was suspended. After missing the 2004 season for failing a marijuana test, Allison later admitted to having a 'problem' with OxyContin. 'Problem' doesn't necessarily imply addiction, but any improper use of the drug is abuse.

Winnipeg Web Design gets OxyContin Abuse Resource #1 ranking in MSN

Winnipeg Web Design Company, the vine multimedia helped us get #1 rankings in the MSN search engine for OxyContin Abuse. Our mission is to help people find information on how to deal with drug abuse, rehab, etc, especially from Oxycontin. We are grateful for the help that they have provided.
Check out our post on their blog: Winnipeg Web Design by the vine multimedia: OxyContin Abuse Resource gets #1 ranking in MSN

Records reveal: OxyContin was promoted aggressively to doctors.

An article summarizing the scandal with OxyContin marketing states that "The maker of OxyContin has spent nearly $150 million in recent years persuading doctors to prescribe the painkiller for a growing list of ailments, promoting it aggressively even as the death toll from abuse soared".
The article continues by outlining some questionable actions regarding the business plan for the drug, the corporate goals of Purdue Pharma (the maker), and popular use of the drug for conditions other than cancer, for which it was originally developed.

Read the entire article: OxyContin was promoted aggressively to doctors, records show

NarcAnon - OxyContin Addiction Rehab Centre

Narcanon of Southern California is a Rehab centre for overcoming OxyContin Addiction. Narcanon is supported by television personality Kirstie Alley, a former drug addict.

Their site is full of great resources, including articles and FAQ's for OxyContin abuse topics such as:

• What is OxyContin?
  
• What are the various strengths of OxyContin?
  
• What are the slang terms used for OxyContin?
  
• How does OxyContin work?
  
• How is OxyContin used?
  
• Why would someone abuse OxyContin?
  
• What are the effects of OxyContin?
  
• What are the side effects of OxyContin?
  

And many, many more.

Oxy Abuse Kills

The purpose of OxyAbuseKills.com is "to bring awareness on how easy it is to overdose Oxycontin (Oxy's) it's other ABUSE dangers and the dangers of Prescription Drug Abuse." It is set up as a memorial to Eddie Bisch, who passed away from OxyContin abuse.

The site is full of information on what OxyContin is, why it is dangerous, how OxyContin is abused and overdose information. In addition, there are plenty of useful links, updated news stories, memorials, etc.

Abuse of Drug OxyContin in FDA's: Prescription Drug Use and Abuse

The FDA published a article Prescription Drug Use and Abuse by Michelle meadows in the September-October 2001 issue of the FDA Consumer magazine. The section on OxyContin follows:

OxyContin (oxycodone), a controlled drug approved in 1995 to treat chronic, moderate-to-severe pain, has received considerable attention because of deaths and crimes associated with its abuse. (For more on the classes--or schedule--of drugs, see "Controlled Substances".) OxyContin is a morphine-like narcotic that contains a high dose of oxycodone. Manufactured by Purdue Pharma, Stamford, Conn., the drug was originally believed to pose a lower risk for abuse because it is a controlled-release drug designed to be taken orally and swallowed whole, says Deborah Leiderman, M.D., director of the Food and Drug Administration's controlled substance staff. The drug's active ingredient, oxycodone, is slowly released over a 12-hour period. "But the safety of the drug is based on taking the drug exactly as intended," she says.

Abusers sometimes disrupt the time-release formula of the drug to speed up absorption, often chewing the tablets, crushing them and snorting the powder, or dissolving them in water and injecting the drug to get a fast high. Abusers have also used OxyContin with other painkillers, alcohol, and marijuana. Several deaths have resulted, mostly in rural areas of the Eastern United States, especially in Virginia and West Virginia.

Other products containing oxycodone such as Percodan and Percocet have also been abused over the years. Abuse of opiates is not new; what's new is the recent surge in local epidemics of opiate abuse (see "Most Commonly Abused").

This article is almost 5 years old. OxyContin Abuse is becoming a real problem that we need to stop.

What is OxyContin?

OxyContin is a prescription painkiller that is also referred to by streetnames: Oxy, O.C. or killer.
OxyContin pills are Oxycodone HCl (HCl = Hydrochloric Acid) controlled-release tablets and are a narcotic drug that is approved by the FDA for the treatment of moderate to severe chronic pain.

The medication is a semisynthetic opioid analgesic whose active ingredient is oxycodone, which is also found in drugs like Percodan and Tylox. Painkillers such as Tylox are far less potent as they contain only 5mg of oxycodone and often require repeated doses to alleviate severe pain.

OxyContin contains between 10 and 160 milligrams of oxycodone in a timed-release tablet. This is as high as 80x as strong as other pain relief medication. Generally, a patient only requires 1 tablet every 12 hours.

Because of it's powerful effect, OxyContin is often prescribed for cancer patients or those with chronic, long-lasting back pain.

Stop Oxycontin Abuse!

This blog has been created to help inform people of the dangers of the drug Oxycontin.
Many people are dying from Oxycontin abuse and we want to help inform people of it's dangerous side-effects and how they can help prevent oxycontin abuse and how to help people recover or get through rehabilitation.