OxyContin is a powerful prescription painkiller, so it is somewhat ironic to think that it could cause pain as well as control it. Yet, the stories submitted to the Web site http://www.oxyabusekills.com/ offer heart-wrenching accounts of emotional and physical pain wrought by OxyContin abuse. Some writers tell of loved ones who died from OxyContin overdoses or from mixing it with other drugs or alcohol. Some confess to being addicted to OxyContin. After reading these accounts, it's clear that the abuse of OxyContin in ways other than medically prescribed is a growing problem.

For millions of people with chronic and acute physical pain, OxyContin is a very effective drug that relieves their symptoms and allows them to participate in life again. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), patients who use their prescribed dosage for legitimate pain control and under a doctor's strict supervision rarely become addicted to painkillers. The key to successful pain management, says NIDA, is responsible use.

Carol Falkowski, Hazelden's director of Research Communications, agrees with NIDA's assessment. "OxyContin is an excellent medication for millions of people who live in chronic pain," said Falkowski, one of 20 drug abuse trend researchers nationwide who participate in NIDA's drug surveillance network. "Unfortunately, it seems that it's also becoming popular with some heroin addicts and other drug abusers."

OxyContin is the trade name for a time-released version of oxycodone, an opioid that is found in other pain relievers such as Percocet. Opioids are narcotics that relieve pain by attaching to specific proteins in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. OxyContin is a controlled-release oxycodone that acts for 12 hours, making it the longest lasting oxycodone on the market. The strength, duration and dosage of OxyContin are the main reasons the drug is attractive to both abusers and legitimate users. Abusers often chew the tablet or crush it and snort the powder to negate the controlled-release effect and provide rapid release and absorption of the drug.

In addition to relieving pain, opioid drugs can act on regions of the brain that affect what we perceive as pleasure, resulting in an initial euphoria for some users. OxyContin and heroin have similar effects, making both drugs attractive to the same abuser population.

A large single dose of OxyContin could cause death. Typically, opioids like OxyContin should not be used with substances such as alcohol, antihistamines, or barbiturates because such drugs slow down breathing, and their combined effects could be fatal. A recent federal review of national autopsy data found that OxyContin is suspected of playing a role in the overdose deaths of 282 OxyContin abusers in a 19-month period.

Abuse of prescription drugs is nothing new. NIDA reports that in 1999, an estimated 4 million people (about two percent of the population age 12 and older) used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes. Of this number, 2.6 million misused pain relievers. What sets OxyContin apart is its potency and its popularity. Since 1996 when it was first sold, the number of prescriptions has increased 18 fold, to approximately 5.8 million prescriptions in 2000.

A January 2001 Information Bulletin issued by the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) stated that OxyContin abuse has led to an increased number of pharmacy robberies, thefts, shoplifting and health care fraud incidents. According to NDIC, "doctor shopping" is a widely used method to obtain OxyContin. Doctor shoppers, who may or may not have a legitimate ailment requiring a doctor's prescription, visit numerous doctors, sometimes in several states, to acquire large amounts of controlled substances that they abuse themselves or sell to others. As of Aug. 28, 2001, the DEA reported that at least 14 states had experienced increased abuse and diversion of OxyContin.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that the drug's manufacturer will soon include a new set of warnings on OxyContin labels aimed at preventing physicians from prescribing OxyContin inappropriately. This "black box" warning is the strongest type of warning that the agency can place on an FDA-approved product. Physicians, patients, pharmacists, and others are urged to educate themselves by checking out the information supplied at reliable Web sites such as NIDA at http://www.nida.nih.gov/ or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at http://www.samhsa.gov/.

--Published December 3, 2001