OxyContin-Making Execs Heavily Fined For Misleading the Public About Addictive Qualities of Drug
It’s not just the doctors, dealers and users who are getting trouble in the courts these days for excessive use of prescription opiate painkillers. Now Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, a common opioid-based prescription medication, are under the gun. Specifically, three present and former executives at the company were ordered to pay a fine of $634.5 million. Their crime? Not being completely up front about the painkiller’s risk of addiction.
The top lawyer at Purdue and its former president and former chief medical officer were the ones who were fined by U.S. District Judge James Jones. Part of what made the fine so high is the personal testimonies of people whose lives were irrevocably altered by the active ingredient in OxyContin, oxycodone.
OxyContin comes in pill form. When swallowed whole it is digested slowly over a 12-hour period but if it is crushed before being swallowed, snorted or injected its effect can be similar to that of a heroin high. The ease with which OxyContin can be abused has meant an increase of 500 percent in oxycodone overdose deaths over a five-year period.
Judge Jones placed the Purdue Pharma company on probation for the next five years and each of the three executives will be on probation for the next three years. Each of the executives were also ordered to perform 400 hours of community service that serves the cause of preventing prescription drug abuse. Says Judge, “Many young people mistakenly believe today that prescription drugs are safer than other drugs.”
The families of those who have died due to OxyContin overdose are pushing for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reclassify OxyContin as severe pain drug prescription only. At the moment, OxyContin can still be prescribed for moderate pain.
While we wait for laws and corporations to update the rules and restrictions concerning prescription opiates, there is a way to manage our healthcare without relying on anyone else. A Suboxone detox can break your addiction to opioid-based painkillers like OxyContin and, in the process, save you from the potential overdose and abuse that comes naturally with addiction. Check out the Meditox Suboxone treatment and see if their outpatient program is right for you.
If you like this post subscribe to the feed
January 7th, 2008 at 1:28 am
The Opioid epidemic is widely grown and more and more abused as Additct are growing at an alarming rate. No more on the Steet Corners of downtown do you find smack, crack etc. You find Pills. In my opinion this increase is due to people taking pain medications for real pain problems and becoming addicted. Vicodin, Oxodone , Morphine, and the ever so addictive Oxycontin. Now days it’s your neighbor or your co-worker or even your everyday Soccor Mom , excuse the expression are addicted to Pain Meds , and doctors are quick to write the Scrpits. ” I pulle my back out”, Mr. Smith says as he visits his doctor and he is given the 20 Vicodin to help with the pain, then Mr. Smith gets the pain relief that he needs and it come along with this increadable “Buzz” and makes him feel great, this “Buzz” soon needs to be fueled by taking more and more Vicodin as the body soon developed a tollerance to Opiates over time, then Mr.Smith can become addicted but his doctor has certain rules and regulations by the DEA that he has to abide by so he sends Mr.Smith to a pain clinic , or worse .. Mr. Smith fines other means to keep this great “Buzz” he needs to keep the feeling. He goes to other Doctors, finds some for $150 will write him a script for whatever he wants. Soon Vicodin is not enough, Mr. Smith moves to Oxcodone, or Oxycontin because these are a stronger class of Opiates. Now Mr. Smith is fully addicted and needs to take 4-6 of these drugs a day just to feel normal. God forbid he gets cut off from the Pain Clinic or his local Doctor that charged him $150 for whatever he wanted gets shut down, which is happening every day. It all started with a back problem and now Mr. Smith is a White Collar Junkie in denial. He can hide his addiction because on Opiates do not show the same on the outside as Coke, or even worse Herion. He doesn’t need to snort or inject these Opiates, take a few pills and go to work. What happens is Mr. Smith builds a tollerance and needs more and more to get that same Buzz he was looking for while destroying his liver, his brain, his family, his life. Opiates are not a African American Problem, the are not a Hispanic problem, they are a White American drug of choice being popped by millions every day like out of a peze dispenser. If you find yourself like Mr. Smith and you need help, talk to someone, if you think your addicted, you probably are, talk to your doctor, there is no escape from the Opiate grip as if will overtake your life. I know a Mr. Smith and he is in recovery, taking a Drug called Ultram, or generic Celebrex. Which gives him the same feeling without the dangers and withdrawls. Ultram works the same as an opiate but it’s in a differnt class Non-Narcotic medications. Ultram has it’s own side effects so you have to always consult a doctor before mixing medications, but it does help with getting away from Opiate Hell. So if your like Mr. Smith I hope this helped.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
The stories about how prescription drug addiction develops are almost as numerous as the people who are addicted. The only bright part to the story is that there can be a happy ending. And you’re right: there is help!