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Rush's Dilemma: The Truth about Oxycontin
Patriot Paradox ^

Posted on 10/11/2003 8:30:04 AM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; US: West Virginia; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: africawatch; limbaugh; lovablefuzzball; oxycontin; rush
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To: Mo1
Now the question is .. why in the heck are doctors prescribing OxyContin???
Because people cannot live with terrible pain.
21 posted on 10/11/2003 9:01:09 AM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: Paradox
His "outing" might be the best thing that could have happened to him....

Considering his addiction has already cost him his hearing, an overdose and heart-attacked might not have been too far in Rush's future.

Yes, surely for the best. career or no career

22 posted on 10/11/2003 9:02:39 AM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: Lurker
Apparently you've never been around someone with intractable, chronic pain.

Apparently you don't know anything about me .. and yes for the record, I do know folks that have chronic pain

And where have I stated that it should be banned

I am just saying that if studies show how addictive this drug can be .. why are so many prescribing it and not following up on their patiences?

23 posted on 10/11/2003 9:03:19 AM PDT by Mo1 (http://www.favewavs.com/wavs/cartoons/spdemocrats.wav)
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To: Mo1
I can't answer that question, as I am not a physician.

I can guess that doctors resemble the general population.

There are conscientious ones, and there are irresponsible ones. The vast majority of people taking this drug do not become addicted or commit crimes to obtain it.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the solution to this 'crisis' is personal responsibility.

L

24 posted on 10/11/2003 9:06:12 AM PDT by Lurker ("To expect the government to save you is to be a bystander in your own fate." Mark Steyn)
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To: sonsofliberty2000
I've been given prescriptions for pain pills before but I would never take them. I've known too many people to become addicted to them. I've known some people that have become so addicted that it basically ruined their lives.

Over prescribing doctors and drug companies should be held accountable. Some drugs appear just too addictive.

I was in a meeting the other day with three other people that I've only known for a short period of time. We got to talking and all three of us had been on Paxil at one time or another. A twenty-three year old woman, a forty-two year old man, and a 64 year old man had all been prescribed Paxil like it was candy.

It is shocking the percentage of the population that has been described anti-depressents like Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, etc. Consider the entire USA market and you would be shocked at the percentage of people that have been prescribed these drugs. You also have to consider that a large percentage of the 250,000,000+ citizen of the USA wouldn't be part of the target market for such drugs, i.e., those under the age of 20.

The medical profession and the drug companies are very irresponsible when it comes to prescriptions.
25 posted on 10/11/2003 9:06:20 AM PDT by boycott
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To: Mo1
"Now the question is .. why in the heck are doctors prescribing OxyContin???"

Now THAT is the question... and unfortunately will never be investigated. There are surely many doctors who have given this stuff out recognizing that the patient may have had a problem.

Doctors in the NY area have largely stopped prescribing OC for patients, except in the most extreme cases.

Now , no doctor will presribe this stuff for fear of a lawsuit or criminal inquiry. And maybe that is for the best.
26 posted on 10/11/2003 9:06:22 AM PDT by At _War_With_Liberals (Celebrate Globalism)
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To: Clara Lou
Because people cannot live with terrible pain.

I understand that Clara .. but is there not some better means or drug that doesn't cause people to destroy their lives over it?

27 posted on 10/11/2003 9:06:45 AM PDT by Mo1 (http://www.favewavs.com/wavs/cartoons/spdemocrats.wav)
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To: wardaddy
You're right about Quaaludes. Are they banned? It was THE drug in the 1970's. I can tell you I took my share of that drug. I haven't heard about them for years. I guess they are banned.
28 posted on 10/11/2003 9:10:01 AM PDT by Hildy
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To: boycott
Anti-depressanst are not the same as a drug like Oxycontin.
29 posted on 10/11/2003 9:10:52 AM PDT by Hildy
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To: boycott
Anti-depressanst are not the same as a drug like Oxycontin.
30 posted on 10/11/2003 9:10:53 AM PDT by Hildy
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To: boycott
"The medical profession and the drug companies are very irresponsible when it comes to prescriptions."

Without a doubt.

31 posted on 10/11/2003 9:11:32 AM PDT by At _War_With_Liberals (Celebrate Globalism)
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To: rushmom
I was thinking that yesterday.
32 posted on 10/11/2003 9:14:13 AM PDT by SpookBrat (There, but the for the grace of God, go I)
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To: Two_Sheds
Are you suggesting that they not prescribe it because people misuse it?

I would say YES to this question!! If, in fact, a person can become a addict ( far worse than the original pain !), simply by trying to aleviate pain at the start, DON'T GIVE it to them to begin with...pain management is the answer IMHO.

33 posted on 10/11/2003 9:14:25 AM PDT by pollywog
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To: sonsofliberty2000
All of this talk about chronic pain makes me wonder if we haven't evolved into a society which cannot tolerate any pain. How did our ancestors tolerate pain? They had very little to take for it.

Have we become nothing but pampered sissies?

34 posted on 10/11/2003 9:15:40 AM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: boycott
It is shocking the percentage of the population that has been described anti-depressents like Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, etc.

This thread is about opioid analgesics, not selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors.

35 posted on 10/11/2003 9:18:28 AM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: Cicero
I smashed my leg ski racing when I was 12. It hurt so much I started ripping the inside of the ambulance out and throwing the pieces at the driver's head so he would go faster. I didn't know I had it in me to swear like a marine at age 12. They put me under to set the bones and I woke up on morphine. That stuff does work!

But I never had any urge to try it as a recreational drug. I would not "fear" having morphine again, either. I have read studies that conclude that morphine is not as strongly physically addictive as most people think. Although I have not tried all kinds of drugs, I think addiction is mostly a property of the addict, not the drug. People who have a strong tendency toward addiction will huff gasoline to get high. There is no saving them by banning drugs.

36 posted on 10/11/2003 9:20:11 AM PDT by eno_ (Freedom Lite - it's almost worth defending)
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To: rushmom
His enemies probably saved his life. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Our thoughts also, word for word.

5.56mm

37 posted on 10/11/2003 9:21:34 AM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: sonsofliberty2000
I took oxycontin for about a day following wisdom tooth removal. The first one made me drowsy and suffused me with a nice, relaxed sensation. The second made me jittery, and the third and fourth gave me splitting, throbbing headaches. Never again.
38 posted on 10/11/2003 9:21:48 AM PDT by Agnes Heep
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To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
In the days prior to prescription pain medication, people who had herniated disks and constat pain akin to a red-hot poker being twisted around in their backs went down to the local general store and bought some off-the-shelf opium, or laid in bed writhing in pain while their spouse or neighbor got the opium for them.

There were no drug prohibitions until the early 20th century.
39 posted on 10/11/2003 9:21:52 AM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: Lurker
There are conscientious ones, and there are irresponsible ones. The vast majority of people taking this drug do not become addicted or commit crimes to obtain it.

I don't mean to dump on all doctors .. I do realize there are many good ones

I just think that some need to watch their patients better, because it seems that this drug can be more harmful

40 posted on 10/11/2003 9:21:56 AM PDT by Mo1 (http://www.favewavs.com/wavs/cartoons/spdemocrats.wav)
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