From New York Newsday, 10/10/03:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-hsdrug1011,0,7157468.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines
OxyContin: The Rural Heroin
By Delthia Ricks
Staff Writer
The drug Rush Limbaugh has acknowledged abusing is OxyContin, often
called the heroin of rural America, and one of the most widely abused
prescription medications that addicts snort, chew or inject to get
high, experts said Friday.
Two years ago, the Food and Drug Administration strengthened warnings
about OxyContin following reports of widespread abuse and misuse of
the medication.
Approved by the FDA in 1995, OxyContin has been equated to a
turbocharged version of the body's own endorphins, natural
morphine-like compounds produced by the brain.
In high doses, OxyContin is capable of inducing an intense state of
euphoria.
Addicts, doctors say, require increasing doses as dependency worsens.
Sold on the street by the nickname "oxy," the drug found its way into
the illicit market not long after its approval as a therapeutic.
"Mainly it's abused in areas that don't have ready access to heroin,"
said Dr. Herbert D. Kleber, a professor of psychiatry and director of
the division of substance abuse at Columbia University in Manhattan.
"We don't see much OxyContin abuse in New York City. You see it in
really rural areas, anywhere from Maine to West Virginia."
OxyContin is manufactured by Purdue Pharma L.P. in Stamford, Conn.
The drug's key component is the compound oxycodone, an opiate
derivative.
Normally, the controlled medication is swallowed with a glass of
water, and was created to numb the moderate to intense discomfort
experienced by patients with chronic pain.
It is designed to be dispersed in micro-amounts in a timed-release
fashion over a 12-hour period.
Abusers hijack that function by crushing the pills to receive an
immediate, but potentially fatal, megadose.
"Drug users have learned that if you chew or crush the tablet, you can
break its protective coating and immediately have these large doses
available," said Kleber, a scientific adviser to Purdue Pharma.
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Harry
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