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OxyContin
is a time release prescription painkiller that is
often prescribed to terminal cancer patients. It
can also be
highly addictive and can produce a heroin-like high.
OxyContin®
(oxycodone hydrochloride controlled-release) tablets are
an opioid analgesic for oral administration. The tablet
strengths describe the amount of oxycodone per tablet as
the hydrochloride salt.
In tablet form,
the drug helps relieve pain of cancer patients and
others. But law-enforcement officials report that
abusers inject or snort the drug to get a strong,
heroin-like high.
More
information, about the drug, can be found at Purdue
Pharma's OxyContin's
website.
The manufacturer
recommends that patients be advised that OxyContin is a
potential drug of abuse, that the drug should protected
from theft, and it should never be given to anyone other
than the individual for whom it was prescribed.
Since early
February of 2001, numerous incidents of the theft and
trafficking of OxyContin (also referred to as Oxycotton)
have been reported across the nation.
Michigan State
Police Detective Sergeant Sally Wolter, based out of
the Lakeview Michigan post, stated in 2001 that those
addicted to OxyContin can be suicidal when they don't
have it, and can get at the point where they'd risk
almost anything to get this drug.
Authorities said
most of the pills on the street flow from doctors'
offices, with some dealers faking ailments to get
prescriptions and some writing phony orders. Others
steal from pharmacies.
This site was
generated in February 2001 when, after a story about a
crime spree in West Michigan by a group of as many as
thirty people, was followed by similar stories from
across the nation.
The Associated
Press reported on March 1 that after meeting with
law-enforcement officials from five states regarding the
growing abuse of their painkiller, the manufacturer of
the drug OxyContin said it would take steps to address
the problem.
Purdue Pharma of
Richmond, Va., the maker of OxyContin, pledged to
increase education and oversight of the drug. The
company also said it would make tamper-resistant
prescription containers for areas where abuse of the
drug is rampant.
Purdue Pharma also
said it would create two drug-abuse task forces to
investigate the illegal sale of drugs over the
Internet.
In November 2001
Purdue Pharma initiated an radio ad campaign targeting
teen drug abusers, and created a web site
Painfully
Obvious , with information that teenagers, parents
and educators nationwide can read and download.
This site is not
intended to be critical of Purdue Pharma. The theft of
and abuse of prescription drugs is a serious concern for
our communities. The issue is with the safe storage,
transportation and dispensing of prescriptions, not with
the manufacturer.
On November 22,
2004 Purdue Pharma announced
they will add radio
transmitters to bottles of their pills to fight
counterfeiting.
The technology will allow the medicines to be tracked
electronically from production plant to pharmacy, a
development the Food and Drug Administration said is an
important tool to combat the small but growing problem
of drug counterfeiting.
The devices will be part of the large bottles that
manufacturers ship to drug stores and wholesalers, not
the containers that consumers take home from their
pharmacies. Most counterfeiting occurs in the wholesale
distribution of medicines, FDA officials said.
Shipments of OxyContin bottles with the transmitters
began late 2004 to two large customers, Wal-Mart and
wholesaler H.D. Smith, the drug manufacturer, Purdue
Pharma, announced.
In May, 2007, Purdue
Pharma agreed to pay nearly $20 million to 26 states,
including Oregon, to settle complaints that it
encouraged physicians to over prescribe its powerful
painkiller OxyContin.
State attorneys general complained that the
Connecticut-based company urged doctors to prescribe
OxyContin every 8 hours instead of the 12-hour dose
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers said Purdue's
marketing practices of OxyContin were "excessive and
possibly abusive."Purdue has denied that it had been
pushing inappropriate dosing. But Purdue Pharma agreed
to stop basing bonuses for its sales staff solely on the
volume of OxyContin prescribed.
Teen Abuse of Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs at
Alarming Levels
04/21/05
OxyContin Maker Developing Electronic Drug Tracking
RFID Project Safeguards Drug
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