AHS Views

Now that OxyContin has formally been acknowledged by its manufacturers Purdue Pharm as having a high risk factor for abuse and addiction, what will be done for those who have suffered damage from the drug and may well need drug rehab?

Many people start taking OxyContin when it’s prescribed by doctor as a pain reliever. However, getting off the drug on your own is almost impossible. Withdrawal symptoms can be severe – the restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes, goose bumps, and involuntary leg movements may cause many to choose to stay on the drug despite the fact that they are no longer suffering from the pain for which it was initially prescribed. This then leads to prolonged use, during which time you build up a tolerance and, consequently, require higher doses to create the desired effect, and to avoid the symptoms of withdrawal. Taken long enough, you can become addicted.

That’s the legitimate route. The illicit route is another story – but the result is the same, if not worse. On the street the tablets are often crushed, then snorted, eaten, or injected to get a bigger rush. Along with the high, abusers can experience side effects like nausea, dizziness, vomiting, headaches, sweating and difficulty breathing. In fact, in the first few years of its release, over 30,000 people went emergency because of the side effects and overdose, and some of them died.

Drug rehab and treatment centers are already seeing an astounding number of admissions for OxyContin abuse and addiction – some as high as 90 percent of those who come to them for help.

Hopefully, part of the nearly $700 million fine levied on Purdue Pharma, or, possibly fines from the many law suits that are sure to come in the near future now that the cat’s out of the bag, will be used to get OxyContin victims into a successful drug rehab program before it’s too late.