Rush's Dilemma: The Truth about Oxycontin

Patriot Paradox ^

[sonsofliberty2000]

Rush is not alone. Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh came out in what had to be a hard and very painful statement to tell his audience that :

Over the past several years I've tried to break my dependence on pain pills and in fact I've twice checked myself into medical facilities in an attempt to do so. But I recently agreed with my doctor about the next steps. So. Immediately following this broadcast, I will check myself into a treatment center for the next 30 days to once and for all break the hold that this highly-addictive medication has on me.

Highly-addicted is an understatement. Oxycontin is an agonist opioid. According to HowStuffWorks.com:

Opioid agonists are some of the most effective pain relievers available. Unlike other analgesics, opioid agonists have an increasing analgesic effect with increased doses. Meaning that the more you take, the better you feel. Other analgesics, like aspirin or acetaminophen, have a threshold to their effectiveness. You can see why, particularly for people who suffer chronic pain, a medication like OxyContin can be so beneficial: It can potentially provide up to four times the relief of a non-opioid analgesic, so even the most severe degree of pain can be managed.

So the more you take the better you feel. And why is it so addictive:

Rather than ingesting the pill as indicated, people who abuse OxyContin use other methods of administering the drug. To avoid the controlled-release mechanism, they either chew, snort or inject the medication to get an instant and intense "high." Frequent and repeated use of the drug can cause the user to develop a tolerance to its effects, so larger doses are required to elicit the desired sensation and the abuser gets increasingly addicted to the drug.

What can come about from oxycontin abuse. Death for one. Look at this info from the National Drug Intelligence Center:

Several deaths have resulted specifically from the abuse of OxyContin in Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Pike County, Kentucky, Coroner reported 19 OxyContin-related deaths during calendar year 2000. In December 2000, seven OxyContin overdose deaths were reported in Southeastern Kentucky by two Kentucky State Police posts. The Logan Daily News reported in October 2000 that four Hocking County, Ohio, residents overdosed on OxyContin over an 18-day period. Two of the four died. There have been at least four OxyContin overdose deaths in Pulaski, Virginia, since 1998. In July 2000, The Williamson Daily reported five OxyContin-related overdose deaths in southwestern West Virginia since May 2000.

I want to talk a little more about the last bit there about southwestern West Virginia. Gilbert, WV in paticular. Why? I grew up and visit there often and I want to tell you that it is depressing. Oxycontin is the number one drug in that area, and the hell it has caused can be seen and is on the lips of everyone you talk to. Stores have closed because owners abused the drug, and lives are ruined.

One article at HealingWell.com has a blurb from Gilbert:

And Gilbert, W.V., police call the drug the worst they've ever dealt with, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center, which last month issued an advisory on the drug and similar products.

and the Media Awareness Project has an article from the Charleston Gazette about the epidemic in Gilbert:

The 41-year-old hairdresser says she has been around at least one person on OxyContin.

"It's like people under the influence are really intoxicated - highly intoxicated," says Vicki Stanley, who lives in the unlikely drug cradle of Gilbert. "Then when they're trying to come off, it's like they have the flu - - muscle cramps, body aches, sick at their stomachs.

"And that's just the physical addiction. The mental addiction is worse."

For the last couple of months, Stanley and other residents of this Mingo County town have been grappling with what they say is a narcotic epidemic.

According to families and friends, a good percentage of the town's population of 456 has developed an appetite for OxyContin, a potent opiate used to treat pain.

...

Palmer keeps abreast of the Gilbert group's activities. He said residents report people selling the pills at Gilbert High football games. Parents of students have entered the school, attempting to peddle the drug, he said.

How bad is it when parents of students are peddling this stuff? In a letter to Tommy Thompson, Congressman Frank Wolf laid out the issues better then most:

Several pharmacies in my congressional District have been robbed at gun point in recent months for OxyContin. No money was taken; the robbers only demanded the drug. Earlier this month, a prominent defense lawyer in northern Virginia who twice served as a local prosecutor in Prince William County pleaded guilty to federal drug charges linked to a large-scale investigation into the illegal distribution of OxyContin and other painkillers.

Communities where the illegal drug has taken hold are being completely destroyed. I am told there is one county in southwest Virginia where no one isn’t either using the drug, knows someone using the drug or been the victim of a crime by someone needing the drug.

When a professional baseball player recently died after taking the dietary supplement ephedra, your agency immediately issued fact sheets regarding potential serious risks of dietary supplements containing ephedra. You were even quoted as cautioning all Americans about using dietary supplements that contain ephedra.

According to fact sheets produced by the FDA, two deaths, four heart attacks, nine strokes and five psychiatric cases involving ephedra have been reported. More than 240 people have died from the abuse of OxyContin and countless numbers of families and communities have been torn apart by this drug.

What should be done? I don't know. Stricter regulations won't do anything, education might, but the hold of this drug is hard to break. Ask Rush. Ask anyone in Gilbert, "where no one isn’t either using the drug, knows someone using the drug or been the victim of a crime by someone needing the drug". Yeah, my birthplace, a place where I still have family I love, a family that if I asked about this drug would be able to tell me many stories of its horrible reign, was the county Wold mentioned. In a way it was a good thing that happened to Rush. I'm thankful he was given a wake-up call. Should he be ashamed? No, he should be thankful. Maybe Rush will put a human face on this epidemic. If left up to the media, however, it will probably be all about the smear campaign.

[sonsofliberty2000]

Patriot Paradox

[sonsofliberty2000]

Might be of interest. About the area I grew up in and the damage oxycontin has done to the area.

[Support Free Republic]

"Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our
wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions,
they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
- John Adams -

Make your statement.

[Stew Padasso]

Good article. A quick scan of Oxycontin in Google News shows what kind of a problem this drug is.

[Paradox]

His "outing" might be the best thing that could have happened to him....

[Mo1]

Thanks for that information

Now the question is .. why in the heck are doctors prescribing OxyContin???

[gitmo]

Rush hasn't said this is the drug he was using.

I've heard him say many times that for back pain he uses Theragesic. Maybe that's the problem.

[rushmom]

His enemies probably saved his life. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

[mvpel]

Because it can provide up to four times the pain relief of non-opioid analgesics.

[Cicero]

Humm. I wouldn't touch something like that with a 10-foot pole, no matter how much it hurt.

When I was in the hospital after a laparotomy, the doctors shot something into my leg that made me feel like a million dollars and gave me a spectacular night of technicolor dreams. I wouldn't take a second shot of the stuff for anything in the world. I prefer my aches and pains.

[Rebelbase]

A friend's brother was prescribed OC for some kind of horrific headaches. He got hooked on the stuff and when the script ran out, he started buying from dealers. That led to other types of pain killers when OC wasn't available, and the exposure there introduced the guy to crack.

Now he is a crackhead who has lost is wife, family, employment, house and is in and out of trouble with the law on drug charges.

[Two_Sheds]

Now the question is .. why in the heck are doctors prescribing OxyContin???

Because it works, and works very well.

Are you suggesting that they not prescribe it because people misuse it?

[Mo1]

But if it's known to be highly addictive and research shows that it can destroy a persons life ..

Then that doctor is not serving the well being of their patient properly

[Mo1]

Are you suggesting that they not prescribe it because people misuse it?

What I am suggesting is that if studies have proved how addictive it can be .. a doctor should just prescribe it without keep a close eye on their patient.

[wardaddy]

All this publicity is going to send Oxycotin the way of Quaaludes....banned.

and a damned shame too.

[J. L. Chamberlain]

Now the question is .. why in the heck are doctors prescribing OxyContin???

Because it's very effective at controlling acute pain. The problem isn't with the drug itself but rather the way most of these addicts are using the drug. Used properly, drugs like OxyContin, Percocet and the rest are perfectly safe. But some folks start chewing the pills or grinding them up to get a jolt of heroin like buzz and that's were their problems start. Once they get hooked on the buzz, they're done.

J

[Lurker]

Apparently you've never been around someone with intractable, chronic pain.

This stuff can be a godsend when someone can't take 30 or fourty Vicodins per day.

People misuse guns and cars. Should we ban those?

How about alcohol?

Properly used, there's nothing wrong with opiod pain medication.

L

[Two_Sheds]

What I am suggesting is that if studies have proved how addictive it can be .. a doctor should just prescribe it without keep a close eye on their patient.

Most doctors do. But if someone is going to abuse it, they will, close supervision or not.

[SVTCobra03]

I was prescribed oxycontin after shoulder surgery and had no problems with addiction. I didnt even use all the pills I had and eventually threw the rest away.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"So the more you take the better you feel. And why is it so addictive: "

Just like beer.