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How Big Pharma Hooked America On Legal Heroin
pigrabbitbear writes "The active ingredient in OxyContin, oxycodone, isn't a new compound. It was originally synthesized in Germany in 1916. The patent on the medication had expired well before Purdue Pharma, a Stamford, Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company and the industry leader in pain medication, released it under the brand name in 1996. The genius of Purdue's continued foray into pain-management medication – they had already produced versions of hydromorphone, oxycodone, fentanyl, codeine, and hydrocodone – was twofold. They not only created a drug from an already readily available compound, but they were able to essentially re-patent the active ingredient by introducing a time-release element. Prior to the 1990s, strong opioid medications were not routinely given for miscellaneous or chronic, moderately painful conditions; the strongest classes of drugs were often reserved for the dying. But Purdue parlayed their time-release system not only into the patent for OxyContin. They also went on a PR blitz, claiming their drug was unique because of the time-release element and implied that it was so difficult to abuse that the risk of addiction was 'under 1%.'"
That just proves that Rush Limbaugh is part of the 1%.
They keep the cost low even though other drugs have increased considerably in cost.
Why is that, one might ask.
And of course, heroin itself was introduced as a "non-addictive" alternative to morphine.
From Wikipedia:
Funny how history repeats itself.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
The vast majority of people who are prescribed opiates do not become addicted to them. Most people who have try heroin or cocaine do not become junkies/fiends who destroy their lives in an attempt to stay high all the time. The "one hit and you're hooked for life" thing is just prohibition propaganda.
The son of a colleague of mine chewed up a few at a party and promptly over dosed. Happy 19th birthday kid, you dead.
Another Slashdot 'article' full of slant and hyperbole.
Yep, Purdue over marketed the drug, Pharma always does that.
No, it was never considered 'safe' - oxycodone has always been DEA schedule II (the most 'dangerous of legal drugs').
What isn't discussed is that the reason that long acting opiates were allowed by the FDA was the increasing realization that medicine has done a historically poor job of treating pain.
Now, allopathic medicine has used, and continues to use a very immature and inadequate model both pain control and addiction. The former is hobbled by limited good research on the issue and the fact that the opiates (heroin, morphine, oxycodone and similar drugs) have been the most effective against serious pain while being significantly addictive. The latter hobbled by addiction being both a legal and a medical problem in the US. The legal system and the medical system tend to work poorly with each other and this is not an exception to that rule.
And I've not even started on the human propensity to stuff whatever it can down it's collective gullet in order to achieve some different level of consciousness.
Yep, Purdue did some poor marketing and a lot of docs (for some bizarre reason) fell for it, but they are hardly the only players in the game.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I won't touch the stuff. My former dentist gave it to me for a toothache to last thru the weekend till I could be seen. Taking the recommended dose for 2 days and I was already hooked enough to experience withdrawal symptoms for the next 3 days. Unbelievable.
On the next two occasions where I was offered the drug after surgery I said no, just give me ibuprofen. It's just not worth it.
I don't know how hard is was to introduce that time-release element. However easy it is to defeat it, it might just be a bit harder to come up with than "xyz with rounded corners" or "abc, but on teh interwebz", thus worthy of a patent. And if they indeed patented their proprietary time-release coating rather than the idea of applying such a coating to this specific ingredient, it would seem trivial for other pharma companies to circumvent the patent.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
If you live in Canada, CBC put out an excellent documentary about Perdue Pharma labs and oxydone marketing: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2011-2012/timebomb/
Note: when trying to be sensationalist, pick some element that's not already common knowledge to the people you're trying to get agitated.
Yes. oxycodone is "legal heroin" -- i.e. a synthetic opioid that's supposedly just like heroin but safe and addiction-resistant, just as heroin was "legal morphine" -- a synthetic opioid that's supposedly just like morphine but safe and addiction-resistant. In both cases, it's not really a whole hell of a lot different (in heroin's case, it metabolizes to morphine; oxycodone is different and acts through a different receptor, so the "legal x" label is less justified), but a big pharmaceutical company persuades everyone it's safe, produces it for a while with no legal competition (because the drug is patented, and whatever drug it replaced is effectively banned), then everyone realizes it's just another opioid with all the risks you'd expect. Meanwhile, the manufacturer is rolling in profits from their restricted competition, and moves on to the next one.
Everyone knows this -- everyone knows the odds of any drug being able to deliver effective pain relief on the order of opioids being otherwise benign and non-recreationally usable is vanishingly low. But we play along, choosing to believe the new drug really is harmless this time, because we're scared that if anyone could legally sit around getting high all day until they go broke or OD, then everyone would, and because we're not willing to ban all painkillers for people who legitimately need them -- and the drug companies play along, persuading us each new drug is as safe as we want to believe, because they make big bucks.
It may be a lamentable state of affairs, but when everybody already knows about it, it's hardly any use for sensationalism...
After I donated my Kidney to my son, I was given Oxy for pain management....I hardly used the PCA when I was still in the recovery/observation unit...the nurse had to remind me. So when they gave me the Oxy, I started taking it for a few days on a 6 hour schedule. I decided to hold a dose on the 3rd day I was taking it and the most pain I felt was the punching of the staples (the removed the kidney through my belly using laparoscopicprocedures) I did feel like crap though, run down and a little irritated. That is when I knew I did not need the Oxy. My pain was no worse but my body was getting used to it so I went cold turkey and tossed the remaining 30 day supply (CVS drug disposal bag)
It amazing how Americans justify always going/being on "meds" like it's some kind of cool thing. I left the US for Europe about 15 years ago and am shocked by the current drug culture/mentality that has taken hold there. I'm glad I don't live there any more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7DHMqHFSB8
Watch it and you'll never touch that stuff without a long pole.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
My son died from an accidental overdose of Oxycontin and alcohol (moderate amounts of each) six months ago yesterday.
Purdue knows how addictive their product is; they could do something to at least radically alleviate the problem; they refuse to.
I have written much on this here:
http://this-machine-kills-pharma.posterous.com/
most recentlly (yesterday) here: http://this-machine-kills-pharma.posterous.com/occupy-purdue
I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer almost one year ago (7 Oct 2011) and have taken my share of oxycontin/oxycodone. All during chemotherapy, and especially after my surgery, I was taking oxycontin for base pain management, along with oxycodone for 'breakthrough' pain. My tumors responded to chemo wonderfully so that I was a candidate for surgery to have my primary tumor removed, colon ressected, metastatic liver tumors ablated, etc. At this point, I was taking 100mg oxycontin per day and an additional 50mg of oxycodone for 'breakthrough' pain. The narcotic effects slow down one's digestive system so much that I was also taking a shitload of stool softeners... pun intended.
By the time I finished my chemotherapy treatments (2 Jun 2012) I was thoroughly addicted to oxy. The only remaining pills I was taking were the pain meds and the stool softeners. I decided enough was enough and stopped taking oxycontin. It took a long week before I felt like myself again, escaping the cloudy buzz of oxy. Having gone through so much discomfort, I saw it as just another part of my recovery. Note: 'feeling like myself' is a relative term - after so much chemo, I wasn't myself anymore.
Now, my cancer is back and I'm starting chemo again this Thursday (20 Sep 2012). Having firsthand knowledge of addiction, kicking a 30+ year smoking habit and an oxy addiction, I will most likely resume taking oxy and get addicted all over again. Why? Because it helped me before. It will help me again. One week of mild discomfort from withdrawal symptoms is nothing compared to the pain and discomfort of chemotherapy.
15-20 years ago, doctors were written up and called out for not treating enough pain. As a profession, we understand intimately the inherent dangers of opioid pain medication, and we were hesitant to use them. But patients were hurting, articles were written, and I'm sure somewhere doctors were sued. So practices changed, "pain management" is now standard curriculum at medical schools and now look, deaths and hospitalizations from prescription pain medication are at all-time highs. Purdue was likely riding the wave of the change in pain management philosophy at the time when they introduced OxyContin. The right drug at the right time, etc.
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
After being the victim of a serious accident, I was in an enormous amount of pain. Oxycodone was a real goddsend. Maybe it takes a soul-shattering amount of pain to really appreciate the value of this drug. Yes, there are lots of addicts - but far more people are addicted to nicotiene. These slams against 'big pharma' for the black market in this drug are counter-productive and quite maddening. Doctors are becoming afraid to prescribe painkillers because they'll be accused of being 'pill doctors', so many people who don't know they have to advocate for themselves in this situation have to suffer unnecessarily. Tip: if you get a prescription, get as many pills as you can. Save some for later, because you'll never know when the anti-drug lobby will cut off the supply.
BTW this isn't news for nerds. Is this the new direction of Slashdot under new ownership? Rage-news in all categories, not just tech?
Just had surgery two weeks ago, with lots of complications. Dilauded was fine in a PCS pump, but the hospital was not going to send me home on that. So I got oxy and fentanyl and it is just barely enough to keep me from passing out when wound dressings need changed. Then again, I've been through this many times. Last time I got high on narcotics was before pain pumps, when nurses just shot me up with 5ml every few hours.
Want advice on how not to get addicted? Don't take strong meds if it doesn't hurt. If you get any kind of buzz from the meds, the dose is probably too high. Best is if they just stop.the pain, but falling asleep is good too; having a good time and seeing things is too much. That won't work for some people with addiction problems, but if you can handle your beer and smokes, you can probably use medicinal narcotics safely too.
And the Anti-Drug lobby writes another opinion piece that medicine should not be treating pain and pharma is out of control by providing new pain management options.
The reason pain prescriptions have gone up is that medicine isn't telling people to take 2 asprin and fuck off. The reason my father has a fucked up GI system is because of the asprin abuse because he was never given the option of real pain management.
As a chronic pain sufferer I wish every one of these fucktards that think no one should be on pain management could experience a month of what I do every day. The constant thoughts of suicide, the near complete lack of life, enjoyment or any satisfaction in life, the exhaustion and the constant work just getting out of bed every day. There is a reason there is an ex law enforcement organization devoted to campaigning proper pain management and it's because some of those lucky people get to experience real chronic pain.
Someone that's never experienced chronic severe pain has no fucking idea what it's like.
So if you push your product to 1.000.000 people, you will get 1.000 very satisfied frequent returning customers.
Close to 0,999% is still under 1%. I'm sure if it was closer to 0,5% they would have said something like 'about 0,5%'.
Privacy is terrorism.
added something tat makes it time release, thus fixing some of the major issues.
I am supposed to be outraged..why? Becasue something was out of patent, that made something new and patented it.
Well, that's how it's supposed to work.
Shit you should be applauding the successful and proper use of the patent system
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Was wondering the same.
There is no tech/geek angle here. It may be an important news story, but between this and the diamond thing the other day, I'm left wonderng WTF?
No, Mostly, it is stupid fucks abusing the drugs who are the ones becoming hooked. Don't abuse drugs and chances are you won't become addicted to any thing.
Oh, and apparently prescription heroin is available in the U.K. Your argument is invalid.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
It's "subluxation".
Let's examine the word: sub means less than or beneath, lux is a measure of brightness, ~tion is a suffix indicating a state. Therefore "subluxation" means "to be less than bright" or, as most people would say, stupid. The word is perfect as is.
Blank until
Is Chronic, so why not ACCEPT and MANAGE addiction?
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
You sound just like my junky ex-girlfriend. First heroin, then "roxies" and "xanies' all self-prescribed for "anxiety". She also said drug companies were making drugs more addictive to get people hooked. She convienently overlooks the fact all her junky friends were never prescribed their drugs of choice. She loved to talk about how herion was better than oxycontin because it was more natural.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
because it is a Schedule I drug. Writing a prescription for a Schedule I drug would quickly bring the DEA down on the prescribing physician, most likely eliminating said doctor's ability to prescribe any other controlled drugs.
It can, however be RECOMMENDED by a physician. The card you get in CA or other medical MJ states shows that your doctor thinks that cannabis might help your condition. It doesn't specify dosage, form, route of administration, or frequency of use like a standard prescription would.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
Hold them personally responsible for damages from anyone addicted to this shit.Pierce the corporate veil and go after individuals directly. If they declare bankruptcy, make the judgments non-bankruptable, you know, like student loans. Which is the bigger crime- trying to get an education of selling heroin and lying about how dangerous it was?
That period in world history when people in corporations could commit any crime whatsoever and get away with it as long as it was big enough ... fast coming to a close in three ... two.... one ...
I've only had procedures, or had a problem needing prescription pain meds a couple times. Both times they wanted to give me a script for that crap & I refused, telling them to prescribe something else. Just because a doctor prescribes something, doesn't mean you can't ask for an alternative.
Is it any wonder this gets confusing? Every drug has a minimum of three different names: The unpronounceable chemical name, the generic name, and the brand name.
The names for that erectile dysfunction drug aren't all that bad:
1-[4-ethoxy-3-(6,7-dihydro-1-methyl- 7-oxo-3-propyl-1H-pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-5-yl) phenylsulfonyl]-4-methylpiperazine
Viagra
Mycoxaphlopin
...
I'm here all week. Try the veal!
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Many chronic pain sufferers will tell you that they had never imagined it was even possible to feel so much pain. They live in a universe of pain unknown to most of us. Try to imagine yourself in bed with pain shooting through your body that is so intense that you cannot move. It seems it could get no worse, but any effort to move doubles, triples the intensity. So there you lie weeping but not sobbing because that would hurt even more. Now imagine that you know for a fact that there is a pill you could take that would let you get out of bed and go to work. But you won't get it. Why? Because the DOJ does not trust you not to sell it on the street. How does that make you feel?
State pushes prescription painkiller methadone, saving millions but costing lives
I come here for the love
The fact that the DEA has any legal ability to interrupt the doctor patient relationship shows how messed up the drug laws are.
Doctors need to prescribe opiates, they are the only drugs that can really manage chronic, debilitating pain. And then the DEA can swoop in and be like "drugs are bad mkay, enjoy your pain". That is so messed up.
Oxycodone, like heroin (which is largely transformed by the body into morphine), morphine, and codeine, acts through mu opiate receptors. All of them do essentially the same thing. All of the drugs of this class are excellent pain relievers (although heroin is not much used for that purpose since it has a bad reputation as a widely abused opioid) and is also highly habit forming, particularly when used recreationally rather than for pain relief.
Time release oxycodone is an important and useful drug for people with severe chronic pain, as it produces pain relief without the user needing to be constantly popping pills.
Probably not. There have been controlled studies with sham acupuncture, which uses fake needles that don't penetrate the skin. It works about as well as real acupuncture.
It looks like acupuncture is essentially an elaborate (and generally rather costly) placebo.
Coming up with a good time release formulation can be quite tricky. It is certainly reasonable that it can be patented.
I seem to see a similar pathway in a lot of patients with chronic pain. They are taught to not let their pain get "out of control." This sets them on the path of being hypersensitive to pain. They'll usually take another dose as soon as they feel the pain coming on. This can increase their dosing interval, which means taking more of the substance and potentially accelerating tolerance. It's not just an issue with oxycodone, but with all narcotics.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
I have been requiring Oxycodone on and off for chronic pain management since a grueling battle with Leukemia, one of the nastiest forms of cancer, about a year ago. Sometimes, the pain goes away on its own, other times it's back. The doctors are still trying to figure out the source, but in the mean time, the pain needs to be managed so I can actually go about my day normally. I get little-to-no physical side effects from it, I don't really get a high; it just takes care of the pain so I can get on with my day.
Guess what happens on those days when there's no pain and I stop the Oxycodone ... absolutely nothing. No withdrawal, no misery, no depression, nothing. It's just a normal day.
But, then, years of dealing an autoimmune disorder have forced me through withdrawals from Prednisone, Morphine, Fentanyl, Gapapentin and probably others that I can't remember off the top of my head. By comparison, Oxycodone "withdrawal" is nothing and mostly in your head (if you were never told that it was addictive, would you actually feel anything when stopping it?)
Several cannabinoid-based drugs are nearing production. By "monied interests" I assume you mean the Southern cotton producers.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
A direct marketer once told me that if he ever managed to get an accurate list of 500 rich, narcissistic and gullible individuals, he would never need to work hard for a living again.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Where heroin is prescribed legally, like Switzerland, virtually all it's so-called nasty side effects are negated.
People prescribed it don't OD because quantity/quality consistencies are guaranteed. They don't catch things like HIV/HCV because IV equipment availability minimizes equipment sharing. The desire to rob or steal is minimized because prescription heroin doesn't cost much more to make than aspirin.
Heroin is just a catalyst of morphine, that converts back to morphine in the body, & as such negative side-effects of long term use of prescription heroin are as minimal as they are for morphine, being simply a higher rate of dental cavities if one's dental hygiene isn't upgraded, due to DIDMS (drug induced dry mounth syndrome) like many other medications. Yes there are war veterans who have been on autonomous morphine pumps for over 40 years years (for things like shrapnel against the spin, etc) & that is their only negative side-effect. Even this side-effect can be negated through the regular use of a electric toothbrush & extra strong toothpaste like NF2K.
BTW I know a number of people that were perpetual thieves/scammers/sex-workers till they got on prescription heroin & in very quick time became highly successful professionals in a number of different legitimate industries.
I Also know many people that tried heroin & didn't like it & moved on, & also know people that don't have any problem using heroin infrequently enough to never get a habit (Simply no more than 2 days a week)
It's not hard to tell the addicts from those that arn't. The fact is if a person does not have 1 of about 8 specif axis 1 mental disorders or 1 of about 12 personality disorders, the odds are they will never become a addict long term regardless of how much they experiment with drugs in their teens or their 20's. Mind you a large percentage of those that do have personality disorders are never diagnosed as, & thus arn't aware of their risk, are in denial, or are simply written off as junky scums. Adversely you could say that anyone that's over 30 that's still living a dysfunctional drug addict life style, odds on has a personality disorder &/or 1 of about 8 specific A1 mental disorders, whether they have been diagnosed or not. The classic junkie cliché of ripping off one's own grandmother is usually an indicator of a cluster B personality disorder. These facts outline the answers to the old questions of the difference between a heavy drinker & a alcoholic, or a recreational gambler & a compulsive gambler. Invariably the difference is that the alcoholic/compulsive gambler also has a personality disorder or a mental disorder.
One could also define the 12 steps of AA/NA as a arguably functional lifestyle method for those that are on the wagon in regards their compulsions & have undiagnosed personality disorders or are in-denial in that regard (many addicts have many attitudes that have not matured from their days in high school, where to identify as having a mental problem was considered worse than to identify as a druggie).
No one gets real withdrawal after just 3 days use. Even the come-down from Crystal Meth is just a delayed side effect, analogous to a hang-over after a alcohol binge, rather than withdrawal to dependence/addiction (which in regards alcohol is the DTs)
Mind you the major difference between the addict personality & others, is that addict personalties think they're hooked after 2 or 3 days use when they're not, & the mind is such a strong thing that it creates a false reality to match their thinking. So if you really did think you were hooked & had withdrawals after just 2 days, you made the right choice to stay away, because odds on you could be high risk of being a addict in the making.
Was wondering the same.
There is no tech/geek angle here. It may be an important news story, but between this and the diamond thing the other day, I'm left wonderng WTF?
Because nerds are humans. Humans use drugs, for pain. This can lead to addiction if not completely understood. There is a lot of excellent information here for all nerds worldwide to learn, info that might keep them from falling into the trap of addiction. It's "news that matters".
So it's just going to become a generic news site then? There are plenty of those already. The decline in quality in this place has been sad enough, but turning it into just another news/comment site... Just another nail in the coffin of a once brilliant tech site.
America needs to support the Afghan (tm) economy of course. ;)
He did an entire show claiming to be supporting a democrat candidate.
He's a clown alright and perhaps I have misjudged him from the few clips I have seen here in Oz. Maybe he's like Clarkson from Top Gear and I'm simply not "getting it" because...well...I'm not an American. However from what I have see he does portray himself, and is followed by some, as a court jester. Unfortunately the term "court jester" is not well understood in the US, so to clarify I would nominate John Stewart as the current US court jester, And no, it's not the obvious red vs blue difference that sets them apart.
;)
Shamelessly cut and paste from the obig WP link:
"In ancient times courts employed fools and by the Middle Ages the jester was a familiar figure. In Renaissance times, aristocratic households in Britain employed licensed fools or jesters, who sometimes dressed as other servants were dressed, but generally wore a motley (i.e. parti-coloured) coat, hood with ass's (i.e. donkey) ears* or a red-flannel coxcomb and bells. Regarded as pets or mascots, they served not simply to amuse but to criticise their master or mistress and their guests. Queen Elizabeth (reigned 1558-1603) is said to have rebuked one of her fools for being insufficiently severe with her. Excessive behaviour, however, could lead to a fool being whipped, as Lear threatens to whip his fool."
* My emphasis; In other words, I don't think Rush is clever enough to be the modern day equivalent of "ass hat" material.
Again, maybe I have misjudged him, as an English born Aussie who emigrated in the early 60's, there are a lot of things I don't understand about US style right-wing political humour, Rush maybe just one more of those things?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
The one true Drug Dealer.
I had abdominal surgery a couple years ago. No laparoscopic; they cut me open. Afterwards I was in some pretty awful pain. They had me on a morphine drip and honestly it did nothing for me. I still had tons of pain. I felt loopy and in pain. One of the pain docs gave me Toradol. That's an intravenous NSAID, which is the same family as Advil (Ibuprofen) just a lot more powerful. BAM, pain nearly wiped out. I asked to be taken off the morphine and I stopped feeling so loopy. Pain didn't increase.
When I was sent home they put me on Oxycontin. It was like the morphine only less loopy. Oh and my breathing was labored while on the Oxy; freaked me out because I felt like if I fell asleep I would stop breathing. I had to consciously breathe because when I didn't think about it, I actually stopped breathing. No real pain reduction. I ditched it and stuck with Ibuprofen instead. The Ibuprofen worked way better for pain management than the Oxy did.
Perhaps I'm just one of those people for whom opiates don't work.
Yes because crushing the tablet to get all of it in one hit is so hard to do.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I thought I was having a flashback -- at least 4-5 years ago... same exact article. Except then, it was still call Hillbilly Heroin" because most of the abusers were in Appalachia with the drug taking the place of more toxic and more dangerous heroin.
But this article does bring the update of "yesterdays" crackdown on pain meds. From the base article:
It's a good thing the FDA has done their job and gotten people off the legally addictive drugs -- so now they can have to scrounge and take their chances of dying from O.D. just like every other addict.
Meanwhile, those who really needed OC for pain find that since it doesn't dissolve in water -- it doesn't dissolve in your body as well either (we are over 60% water, w/the brain being over 70% water -- which is, of course, where the drug "acts" -- so the fact that it no longer dissolves in water significantly reduces its effectiveness requiring doubling or more the pain dosage. At the same time, Purdue was able to get the FDC to block out competitors in the market unless they could prove their 'generic' was as hard to abuse as Purdue's -- which Purdue had another 20-30 year patent on. The price for single doses tripled with the new formulation and now many health plans charge extra for that drug because it is 'brand' (despite there being no generic substitute on the market) -- and users need more of it.
So AGAIN, the FDA, who was *paid* to do this (they call it a fine -- what Purdue paid to the FDA), so now Purdue's profits on the drug have skyrocketed even as usage has declined. Triple the price and reduce the effectiveness of the drug by 40%... That's. 4.8 x profit / pill. They expected a smaller market -- but made sure they have a 20-year patent to lock the market into them as the sole providers.
So Purdue makes big money, the FDA look like 'tough guys', abusers move to heroin and everyone is happy! Except maybe those for whom the drug was designed in the first place who find they have their severe or chronic pain made all the worse with the higher prices, needing a higher dose, which doctors, not knowing about the formulation's effects (they don't take it, well not usually), always interpret as the patient developing 'tolerance' and and that "addiction is becoming a problem" --
to which they then try to divert the patient to less effective or more dangerous alternatives (like injectible morphine).
Yeah... another big win by BIG Pharma and a way to spin the story so that Big Pharma looks like they got punished, and the FDA protected us.
And then you can read a bunch of red-neck commentaries on slashdot about the moral superiority of those aren't in regular pain...lording it over those who are:
what a load of self-inflating, self-gratifying, crap.
Choose to do the hard thing. For you, that's loving yourself enough to get off that shit any way you can. A lot of good things are in store for you when you decide to to care about yourself. But only you can decide to walk that walk. If you o.d. and die, you will never now what you could have been, what a waste. Happens every day. People get clear of it everyday too. It's totally your choice.
You know something most people don't know.
However, that doesn't mean a particular drug isn't over-prescribed.
It's an undeniable fact that oxy's are over-prescribed in the US, and that IS a very real problem.
I lived with chronic pain for years, and tried the oxy's for a while, and they worked. They worked a little TOO well. There are ways to manage chronic pain in addition to, and in replacement of just taking a particular pill that's being pushes on you for a companies bottom line.
That Americans are so ready and willing to accept fake limited options presented tot hem by corporate interests that basically own the government speaks as ill of us as it does for our government and our corporations.
Nobody's arguing against the use of oxy's for legitimate purposes. But when prescriptions have increased so rapidly for it in such a short period of time, and it's trafficked like heroin, you'd have to be a complete idiot to not see what's going on.
It's a tech site.
It's not a tech story.
This is happening more and more.
I don't come here for generic news, there are literally hundreds of places that do it better. I come here for tech news, I will not any longer. Enjoy your third rate news site.
& it's even prescribed in Switzerland for the treatment of opioid dependence, not just extreme pain. When the prescription heroin program was expanded more or less across the nation, it had such a effect on minimising certain crimes that certain insurance premiums went down in prrice too.
I suggest you do a Google search for diacetylmorphine. Diacetylmorphine is the pharmaceutical name for heroin ('heroin' being the propriety trademark name Bayer gave diacetylmorphine). diacetylmorphine is still a legal prescription medication in many countries, including the UK & Canada.