New Oxycontin pill made to be drug-abuser-proof (Will turn kids towards Heroin!)

SNOHOMISH, Wash. - A new version of a Oxycontin, now arriving at local pharmacies, is designed to make it more difficult for drug abusers to crush the popular prescription drug and misuse it.

"The fear is that if drug addicts stop using Oxycontin, they will turn to something else," says Turner. "That something else is heroin."

Source

I can't agree more with the last statement.

I have friends that use this drug and other pharmaceuticals in the same class on a daily basis. It becomes their daily routine to acquire it and use it. Either they have been prescribed it in the past and are now hooked but no longer have a prescription (Thanks doc!), or they did not treat a chemical of this nature with enough respect and now cannot abstain from it.

Either way it is terrible to see what it's done to them. They want to stop, but for the life of them cannot. The main reason for this is the intense and drawn out withdrawal.

That aside, I understand why Purdue would change their formula for this medication with the obvious rampant abuse nationwide. But what they don't, or probably do understand, is that a junkie is going to get his fix. When they can no longer procure the old formula of these OC's, they are going to turn to something that they can, and that being Heroin.



Maybe that's the government's agenda all along. Gotta have buyers for their reason for being in Afghanistan, eh?

Now I know as widespread as this epidemic is, we all probably know someone who is at least indirectly affected from this particular drug.

What do you think of all this?

Do you think Heroin abuse will rise now that this new formula OC has hit the street?

I'm not advocating any kind of drug use, but from what i've seen the only difference between the two is the impurities in the heroin, and the notoriety of the name 'Heroin'.

Both are being injected into the bloodstream. And both have no real medical value.

Nothing as strong as OC's need to be in pill form. Opiates if that strength need to be administered by a doctor.

But to be honest, most children aren't banging oc's these days. It happens, but its rare.

People are always going to get high. A mans appetite cannot be controlled by legislation. Period. Regarding drugs, or anything else.

reply to post by baked


I don't know where you're from, but it is happening.

Maybe not in your demographic, but trust me, in certain areas of the country it's been a growing epidemic since the 90's.

If it's not in your neighborhood, be extremely grateful friend.

And as far as it having no value. I can't disagree more. Tell that to the cancer patient in an enormous amount of pain.

People are always going to get high. A mans appetite cannot be controlled by legislation. Period.

With that, I couldn't agree more.

[edit on 7-9-2010 by susp3kt]

To the kids I say; Go hard or Go Home.


I mean really is this their problem? What about this, it wont turn people on to heroin that aren't already hooked.



[edit on 7-9-2010 by Lysergic]

Prescription drugs now kill more people then car accidents.

As for people who are hooked, you can go to a suboxone doctor and get a prescription for a medication that avoids the withdrawels. It is herald as a miracle medication for opiate addiction.

I'm usually a huge supporter of ending the red-tape when it comes to issuing pain-medication. Releiving someone of pain is far more important that cutting back on the risk of drug addiction. There are far too many people in pain that have a hard time getting the medication they need because there is so much red tape.

So, basically because some idiots want to get high, people have to suffer through pain. While it is the addicts choice to do whatever he is doing (disease or not), it is often not the choice of pain sufferers to be in the position they are. We have the ability to pretty much end pain [cheaply], yet many people still suffer from it because of red tape due to yahoos who are looking for fun.

Hopefully, this pill will help cut a nanometer of the red tape and if it gets kids addicted to heroin, they were probably prone before this pill. It should be up to the parents to raise the children not to do drugs and the burden shouldn't be passed to legitimate patients.

--airspoon

reply to post by susp3kt


Ok first, OC's are an epidemic. Agreed. But no so much with children.

Secondly, there are plenty of more safe, and alternate methods of pain management. Morphine for example. The fact that its in pill form just keeps the dope boys doctor shopping.

Its all about the presentation.

reply to post by nixie_nox


In this economy, with the job cuts and people now with no insurance, who can afford the price of a Suboxone doctor and the price of the prescription itself?

Suboxone is a viable short term solution to those who can afford it.

In the end though it's just swapping one chemical for another though.

reply to post by baked


Ok, maybe a mod should edit the title of this thread to say 'users' instead of 'kids'.

Please explain to me how Morphine is "safer" than say Oxycontin? They're both Schedule I narcotics, and both have the same risk of dependency.

I'm sorry, I just don't agree with your line of thinking here.

[edit on 7-9-2010 by susp3kt]

Well, in the short term, this is definitely not a good thing. As common sense tells you the # of Heroin users will rise. It's so blatantly obvious, you wonder if the makers of OC know this, and just don't care... Until you realize how good this is in the long term.

In the long term, this will prevent a lot of people getting addicted to OC in the first place. Now, let's anlayze the long term a little more. The # of users who are susceptible OC addiction is much higher than Heroin because a) A doctor will not prescribe you Heroin, but will prescribe you OC and b) OC doesn't have the stigma Heroin does, so people are much more likely to try OC recreationally.

So this decision by the manufacturers in theory, should reduce the # of opiate addicts in the coming years.

Oxy is ten times stronger than heroin.

Just because its legally produced doesn't make it better.

Yes its an epidemic and has been since at least 1993 when the money runs out the rich boys always turn to heroin.

I think people need to get it through their skull that they are the same.
More will go to heroin and more will still be addicts same difference.

reply to post by susp3kt


If you have a problem, an actaul addiction problem you can afford the medicine.

If you don't have insurance, you probably can't afford the others either.

I like how these Manufactured drugs are considered safe but kill and addict thousands a year. What about the alternative medicines that grow out of the ground, are “Green” and cost nothing with no side effects. I don’t smoke and never ever have but medical marijuana seems to me a natural green product that can really help people. It also can be very cost effective if grown in your gardens and harvested.

Tylenol kills a few hundred a year in overdoses and hospitalizes thousands. Medical Marijuana as far as I can see has killed 0 by overdosing. What would you pick in those odds?

I hope i did not violate any terms or conditions and if i did im sorry for it. the truth needs to come out and that is these manufactured drugs are just profet centers addicting us to them.

reply to post by nixie_nox


Suboxone is also a pain killer,its ten times as strong as morphine,I don't see why they can't prescribe it for that as well.

This needed to be done with the OC's. I have been living with severe intractable pain for 19 years now, after having 23 surgeries due to trauma. I have seen even the legitimate pain patients abuse OC's because they can. At one point many years ago when they first came out I was prescribed them for pain. I ended up getting off of them because of the street abuse. Pharmacies were getting robbed at gunpoint, non patients were getting high off of them, and it carried it's own stigma. People using the same medications that are not in pain, get a 'high' off of them and they are much more addicting to them. As I said, I have seen true pain patients crush and snort the medication, which they have tried to claim made it ease the pain faster. However, that in itself causes damage to the sinus cavity, which can be severe requiring surgery. I have known for probably 8 years now that they were going to come out with the new tablets, or the FDA and DEA were going to ban them like they have other prescription meds in the past. They are supposed to turn gummy when crushed. Basically having several tiny gel packed bubbles inside that when crushed destroys the oxycodone molecules making it useless besides being a little tar ball. Maybe the balls contain the Naloxone which blocks opiate receptors in the brain. I would bet under further scrutiny, the hard shell is to make sure they really crush the gel balls trying to crush the tablet. If it is like the plans a couple of years ago were being tested it is a lattice type structure with the gel balls spread throughout the tablet equally. This should stop the abuse from crushing and shooting or snorting the medication. If taken properly, they will work as they were meant to. There were some Oxycontin IR's which were immediate release and meant for breakthrough pain. I don't know what they can do to change those and they will be the next problem if they are still available.

edit to add: The OC's are normally a time release tablet that is supposed to be released over a period of 8 to 12 hours. They crush them to get it all at once.

[edit on 7/9/10 by spirit_horse]

I would just like to give my two cents in on this, I am speaking from personal experience. Much of what everyone is saying on her is true. I was diagnosed with narcolepsy at 30, Prior to that I was as healthy as can be, played college ball, and was on top of my game. I was prescribed one drug after another, to help me with an illness that I was told is life long. Finally we found a drug that made me feel normal again while in my system, it is a form of meth. or speed. It only last for 4hrs and it is a controlled substance. I visit my doctor on a regular basis, and I also have a neurologist, that I visit.

In 06’ I was in a serious accident (not related) which landed me in a medical center for over a month. I drove my right femur threw my pelvis and out my back, crushed my left foot, and have “drop foot” as a result of my sciatic nerve being compressed for a week while I waited for a surgeon to take my case, and fix the multiple fractures I had.

Needles to say I needed a med to help me deal with the pain during and after the long physical therapy I had ahead. They prescribed Oxycodone. Since 06’ I have now had to take this mainly now 4ys after due to the addiction. I have NEVER abused or misused this drug. For the first two years it was needed for the pain, my doctor asked if I wanted to get off it and use something else, but what ever he prescribed, would also be an addictive medication. I choose to stay with what I was on because I thought, “why have to deal with the withdrawal of the Oxycodone, only to have to deal with withdrawal of the next”

Here is the real problem as airspoon mentioned, and if anyone has any help to offer as in a patient advocacy group I would appreciate it.

Every single time! and I mean every time, I need to have my prescriptions filled it is a problem! A serious one, because of the restrictions in number of days, ect. When I go to the pharmacy I am talked down to, and treated like a drug addict. When my medication starts to run down it becomes very stressful because I cannot be without it, particularly my narcolepsy meds. I know the hassle I am going to have to go threw to get it so sometimes I start early, which raises questions. But because of the delays of it sometimes being out of stock, or the mail, or doctor taking there time to write it, I get paranoid.

This is an even worse situation now, because I just recently moved from NY to TX. You should see the time I am having to get what I need to survive. Doctors, that won’t even talk to me and want to send me out to someone else, who wants me to go to a pain mgt. clinic, waiting for medical records to be transferred, It is not fair. The patient is the only one who suffers. I have been slowly working toward ending the use of the Oxycodone on my own because of the withdrawal. From what I was told it could take years. This is without abusing it, so I cannot imagine what it would be like for someone who does.

Originally posted by baked
I'm not advocating any kind of drug use, but from what i've seen the only difference between the two is the impurities in the heroin, and the notoriety of the name 'Heroin'.

Both are being injected into the bloodstream. And both have no real medical value.

Nothing as strong as OC's need to be in pill form. Opiates if that strength need to be administered by a doctor.

But to be honest, most children aren't banging oc's these days. It happens, but its rare.

People are always going to get high. A mans appetite cannot be controlled by legislation. Period. Regarding drugs, or anything else.

Pain meds as strong as OC should only be administered by a doctor?

That is one of funniest things I have heard in awhile..

Sooo.... maybe 2-5 million people with cancer and other serious painful ailments that have prescriptions would have to line up at doctors offices for a dose 2 or 3 times a day?

You should be the new marxist drug Czar !

i presently know of whole families that are hooked on the Oxy contin crap
mother-father-college student

i personally know of family reletives that trade other opiates for Oxy's
or basically any combo or 'HCL' crap for oxy or other mellower RX stuff

my BGFE son has been to treatment on 4 seperate occasions to wean off his pain-killers incl Oxy...
whats sicko, is that he researches the Med ID site... to find pills that look like one of the desired OXY's pills that are potent... then fakes out newbys with the look-alike pills for (relatively) big bucks


i just don't have any heart for these dirtbag people, they get off oxy and then depend on us normals to fund their rehabs:. for perhaps a 2-3 month period---even as they sneak back into the street available RX drugs.

there's 2 treatments available: 1 is the daily dose of 'methadone' at regulated doseage centers... thats for the poor majority
the other treatment is another 'legalized' money-maker scam that costs $250 wk versus the 12$ daily doseage for the poor guys methadone
(for the life of me i can't think of the name off-hand) Its not this but similar::
www.cliffsidemalibu.com...

ADD: yo... its 9PM now, i was watching a 'Dirty Harry' movie and i recalled the expensive treatment --- its called SyBoxin (phonetically)
look it up, it the other high cost detox, for opiates

heres a link: softlandingrecovery.com...

[edit on 7-9-2010 by St Udio]

reply to post by xyankee


What you are subjected to at pharmacies and such is a direct result of our country's disinformation and criminalization of certain medicines and substances purely to create the huge prison infrastructure and government administration to do nothing more than enrich bureaucrats and ensure their futures...

But I am sure most people here will understand that..

I have felt the wrath at a pharmacy for getting an analgesic that doesn't even require a narcotics signature, -- these people are totally brainwashed by the system... very sad to share a country with such stupid sheeple.

reply to post by xyankee


I had 23 surgeries due to severe trauma over 2 years in the hospital. The big problem from what I can tell is justification and having the records to back the doctors decision up. The law enforcement is really pushing for long term medication management of chronic intractable pain to be done by doctors with pain management training and certification. They can write medications, if they have the cause to, determined by supporting medical records, without much worry. However, regular doctors and even surgeons, are only supposed to manage the pain medication for a short period of time and if you are going to require meds for a long period of time, then you are, or shoud be, referred to a pain management doctor. I would much rather be seen by a pain management doctor than any other because of what you said. The other doctors don't deal with pain a lot and are often badgered or lied to by patients trying to get medications. And they can get in serious trouble writing pain medications by their licensing authority, or law enforcement, i.e. DEA, and they don't want to deal with it. I have no problem going anywhere in the US and getting meds because I have the records and scars and titanium on board to prove it. However, I will not be treated properly unless I see a physiatrist (pain management doc). I get a 2 month supply now which is a lot. I am on methadone and morphine for break through. I know, methadone blocks opiate receptors, however, trust me, it works great for pain. Methadone lasts longer and provides better relief of the pain and I have been on most of them over 19 years. Anyway, my doctor has to write a prescription for quite a large quanity to last over 2 months. There is no way a regular doc can write my medication because of that. As a matter of fact, they usually freak out on me when I go to another doctor for blood pressure or regular illness like a throat infection and they see what I take. I have been investigated by the State and DEA twice because of the quanity and after review of the records, they close it and don't bother me or the doctor. I have had 4 doctors die on me in the last 19 years that were treating me. So, I have had to move to new pain management doctors several times. That is what triggeed the investigations. But, my doc now is a year younger than me and runs a pain management office. People just can't go in and tell the doctor what the want to take and how much of it. You have to work with them and let them figure out on their own, with your input what works. Otherwise you are going to have problems. Just think about what you would do if you had a MD license and were in the business of prescribing dangerous narcotics to people. You would make sure they required them, had the evidenciary records to back that up, and be good at spoting people who are just drug seekers. I live in Florida, and Texas and California are usually close in lockstep together as far as medical laws go.
So, you best bet would be to find a good pain management doctor (not a new one, one with experience) and ask your doctor to refer you to them for long term medication management. The pain management doctors are sometime internal medicine doctors or anastesiologists, or physiatrists (not psychiatrists). You will find that in those settings the feelings that they are giving you a hard time for being a drug seeker are seldom present, unless you truly are. That is their main business. But even then, you will have to let them decide, with your input, how to treat you. Most of the time that process takes a few months of their working with different meds and quanities before you get on a treatment regimen that works for the duration of the period between visits and that you both are happy with. Like I said, I have a lot of experience with all types of doctors. I had severe trauma and died twice, 23 surgeries, and have seen a lot of people in the doctors offices. There are a large amount of drug seekers out there that are trying to get over on these doctors. That is why they have to be like they are and I suspect that anyone in their right mind could understand that would probably do the same if they were in their position.
It does make people who are truly sufferers of severe chronic intractable pain irritated with all the abuse of meds and that law enforcement has to crack down on doctors making it hard for us to be treated properly because of the people abusing the drugs that don't need it. And there has been legislation to help us that are truly severe pain patients, but right now with the precription drug abuse problem, you just have to recognize the status of they way the abuse is on the streets and how it effects doctors and legitimate patients alike. But I have never had a problem being a legitimate pain patient. However, I do see people on the margin that do have a hard time. Try to get a referral to the doctors that specialize in pain management because the pressure on the rest of the doctors will make treatment for long term chronic pain conditions difficult for the forseeable future.