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COLUMN: Tragedy leads to knowledge of Oxycontin
By Jessica Coury
The Daily Campus (U. Connecticut)11/12/2003
(U-WIRE) STORRS, Conn. -- On the night before Halloween, just a few weeks ago, I lost an employee to an Oxycontin overdose. He was only 19, but he is not alone, as it has been estimated by a federal drug advisory panel that Oxycontin kills between 500 and 1,000 people a year. The wild thing is that this isn't really news -- just news to me.
Thousands of people's lives are being ruined by Oxycontin, made by Purdue Pharma right here at home in Stamford, Conn. It is a 12-hour time-release drug with the same potential for abuse and addiction as morphine -- though when the pills are crushed and snorted or injected, the time-release system is disabled and the drug is at full power.
The active ingredient in OxyContin and dozens of other strong painkillers is oxycodone, which comes from the opiate poppy. The drug is so powerful it is sometimes called "heroin in a pill" and, "as seen on TV," has recently been linked to a prescription-drug investigation involving conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.
Some say the death and addiction side to Oxycontin is an unfair "bad rap" because of all the good it does for people in pain, and I agree to an extent. Someone with a terminal illness of course should have the right to take a prescription drug that will help him or her cope with the pain. Someone who has chronic pain should also have access to a drug many people have called a godsend. However, doctors shouldn't be so eager to give this as a short-term treatment or a quick fix for someone in temporary pain, such as after surgery or a back injury.
Tom was only 19, and like hundreds this year, his life is now over because he could not shake an addiction. It is easy to see addiction as a weakness in character, but look around: We see smokers, coffee drinkers and alcoholics. Is it really that hard to see how the bliss of painlessness would lead to addictions? There has to be an end to this epidemic.
When Purdue first launched OxyContin in 1996, it was considered a new "wonder drug" for cancer patients. It quickly eased their pain and promised fewer side effects, but though OxyContin was first marketed primarily to cancer patients, this later changed. When the Orlando Sentinel requested the marketing strategies for Oxycontin from Purduee Pharma, they refused, citing "trade secrets." But a Broward County circuit judge in Florida agreed that the marketing plans should be made public. The Sentinel found that Purdue's marketing plans showed that company insiders realized early on that the drug would be much more profitable if prescribed to patients with ailments other than cancer.
The Sentinel reported: "As use of the drug spread to the general population, it became increasingly available to doctors unfamiliar with its potency and worse, to physicians who profited from patients abusing it. Historically, strong opioid painkillers that had high potential for abuse and addiction, including morphine and hydromorphone, were reserved mainly for cases of severe pain caused by cancer or life-ending conditions. But the FDA had approved OxyContin for 'moderate to severe pain.' That opened the door for Purdue to market its use for a much wider class of patients with lesser ailments.
"Sales took off, and so did the available dosages as Purdue added 80- and 160-milligram tablets in addition to its 10-, 20- and 40-milligram tablets. By 1998, two out of three OxyContin prescriptions were written for noncancer pain. The sales goal that year was $220 million, followed in succeeding years by $493 million and $922 million. Federal records show that between 1996 and 2000, prescriptions for other opioids, such as morphine, Vicodin and Dilaudid, increased by 23 percent. OxyContin prescriptions rose by almost 2,000 percent." (www.orlandosentinel.com)
Death is not the only consequence of addiction to Oxycontin. This drug has ripped lives apart, sent thousands to rehab, and left others to be slaves to their addictions.
All over the Internet there are stories and advice from users on how to safely abuse Oxycontin, or, as many have written, why to stay away from it.
On www.Smokedot.org, this advice was given: "If you really want a hell of a buzz I say go with Oxycodone, like in Percocet or Oxycontin.
Watch your dose though, that [is] strong. About 20mg will do you right if you don't have a huge Opiate tolerance. If you have a tolerance and want to take more, you should never take more than 30 or so at once, even that can make you sick. With no tolerance 40mg spaced might still make you sick, and 60mg can kill you. If you get Oxycontin, you have to chew it, its time release, but watch out it comes in 20mg, 40mg, and 80mg. If you chew a whole 80 you will probably die."
Now keep in mind that Purdue even started selling 160-milligram tablets.
Another user wrote this advice, "My best advice -- never start taking oxycontin! It is absolutely the worst move I ever made -- I am now stuck on methadone, because I cannot stop the oxy's -- I have not taken oxy in two years -- but even on the meth, I still miss that 'happy' feeling. That 'home' feeling. Never start, you will be sorry, I promise you."
The sad thing is that many addicts were prescribed these drugs by doctors that either don't know what they are prescribing, or are willing to risk the patients long-term health for a short term fix.
Purdue Pharma is in the process of getting a second drug, "Palladone," approved by the FDA. According to a Web site dedicated to Oxycontin abuse information (www.oxyabusekills.com,) "...Purdue Pharma is now attempting to get approval from the FDA for a drug called Palladone.
If the FDA approves Palladone for moderate pain, I believe it will make OxyContin look like a day at the beach. Palladone will have 32 mg. of time-released hydromorphine equal to 320 mgs of morphine. How much more devastation do we need to witness in families devastated by a corporation marketing profit-not pain management-before they are stopped?" So far, Palladone has been approved in the United Kingdom for use by Cancer patients, which to me seems responsible; hopefully this would make the drug less available for addicts to get hold of. But, as long as Oxycontin is being so widely prescribed, it will remain a threat to all users. This is why the nation should demand that the availability of Oxycontin is reclassified from usage for "moderate to severe pain" back to its original intent, which was for use against "Cancer and severe pain."
Oxycontin, along with this new Palladone, should be made available only to chronic pain sufferers or those with a terminal illness.
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