Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fearing abuse, FDA blocks generic OxyContin
Associated Press ^ | Apr 16, 2013 7:25 PM EDT | Matthew Perrone

Posted on 04/16/2013 9:31:11 PM PDT by Olog-hai

Federal health regulators will require generic versions of the best-selling painkiller OxyContin to include recent formulation changes designed to make the pill harder to abuse.

The Food and Drug Administration said late Tuesday it would not approve any generic versions of OxyContin based on the original formulation because it “poses an increased potential for certain types of abuse.” …

OxyContin has long been one the nation’s top-selling prescription painkillers with sales of more than $2.8 billion last year, according to prescription tracker IMS Health. A time-release version of the narcotic oxycodone, the pill was hailed as a breakthrough treatment for chronic pain when it was approved in late 1995. The long-acting formula could be used over 12 hours to maintain a steady level of oxycodone in patients suffering from moderate to severe pain.

But drug abusers quickly discovered they could get a heroin-like high by crushing the pills and snorting or injecting the entire dose at once. …

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: fda; narcotics; oxycodone; oxycontin
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last
To: Olog-hai

opium throughout history

c.3400 B.C.  

The opium poppy is cultivated in lower Mesopotamia. The Sumerians refer to it as Hul Gil, the 'joy plant.' The Sumerians would soon pass along the plant and its euphoric effects to the Assyrians. The art of poppy-culling would continue from the Assyrians to the Babylonians who in turn would pass their knowledge onto the Egyptians.

c.1300 B.C.  
In the capital city of Thebes, Egyptians begin cultivation of opium thebaicum,grown in their famous poppy fields.The opium trade flourishes during the reign of Thutmose IV, Akhenaton and King Tutankhamen. The trade route included the Phoenicians and Minoans who move the profitable item across the Mediterranean Sea into Greece, Carthage, and Europe.

c.1100 B.C.  
On the island of Cyprus, the "Peoples of the Sea" craft surgical-quality culling knives to harvest opium, which they would cultivate, trade and smoke before the fall of Troy.

c. 460 B.C.  
Hippocrates, "the father of medicine", dismisses the magical attributes of opium but acknowledges its usefulness as a narcotic and styptic in treating internal diseases, diseases of women and epidemics.

330 B.C.  
Alexander the Great introduces opium to the people of Persia and India.

A.D. 400   
Opium thebaicum, from the Egytpian fields at Thebes, is first introduced to China by Arab traders.

1300's  
Opium disappears for two hundred years from European historical record. Opium had become a taboo subject for those in circles of learning during the Holy Inquisition. In the eyes of the Inquisition, anything from the East was linked to the Devil.

1500  
The Portugese, while trading along the East China Sea, initiate the smoking ofopium. The effects were instantaneous as they discovered but it was a practice the Chinese considered barbaric and subversive.

1527  
During the height of the Reformation, opium is reintroduced into European medical literature by Paracelsus as laudanum. These black pills or "Stones of Immortality" were made of opium thebaicum, citrus juice and quintessence of gold and prescribed as painkillers.

1600's  
Residents of Persia and India begin eating and drinking opium mixtures for recreational use.

Portugese merchants carrying cargoes of Indian opium through Macao direct its trade flow into China.

1606  
Ships chartered by Elizabeth I are instructed to purchase the finest Indian opium and transport it back to England.

1680  
English apothecary, Thomas Sydenham, introduces Sydenham's Laudanum, a compound of opium, sherry wine and herbs. His pills along with others of the time become popular remedies for numerous ailments.

1700  
The Dutch export shipments of Indian opium to China and the islands of Southeast Asia; the Dutch introduce the practice of smoking opium in a tobacco pipe to the Chinese.

1729  
Chinese emperor, Yung Cheng, issues an edictprohibiting the smoking of opium and its domestic sale, except under license for use as medicine.

1750  
The British East India Company assumes control of Bengal and Bihar, opium-growing districts of India. British shipping dominates the opium trade out of Calcutta to China.

1753  
Linnaeus, the father of botany, first classifies the poppy, Papaver somniferum-- 'sleep-inducing', in his book Genera Plantarum.

1767  
The British East India Company's import of opium to China reaches a staggering two thousand chests of opium per year.

1793  
The British East India Company establishes a monopoly on the opium trade. All poppy growers in India were forbidden to sell opium to competitor trading companies.

1799  
China's emperor, Kia King, bans opium completely, making trade and poppy cultivation illegal.

1800  
The British Levant Company purchases nearly half of all of the opium coming out of Smyrna, Turkey strictly for importation to Europe and the United States.

1803  
Friedrich Sertuerner of Paderborn, Germany discovers the active ingredient of opium by dissolving it in acid then neutralizing it with ammonia. The result: alkaloids--Principium somniferum or morphine.

Physicians believe that opium had finally been perfected and tamed. Morphine is lauded as "God's own medicine" for its reliablity, long-lasting effects and safety.

1805  
A smuggler from Boston, Massachusetts, Charles Cabot, attempts to purchase opium from the British, then smuggle it into China under the auspices of British smugglers.

1812  
American John Cushing, under the employ of his uncles' business, James and Thomas H. Perkins Company of Boston, acquires his wealth from smuggling Turkish opium to Canton.

1816  
John Jacob Astor of New York City joins the opium smuggling trade. His American Fur Company purchases ten tons of Turkish opium then ships the contraband item to Canton on the Macedonian. Astor would later leave the China opium trade and sell solely to England.

1819  
Writer John Keats and other English literary personalities experiment with opium intended for strict recreational use--simply for the high and taken at extended, non-addictive intervals

1821  
Thomas De Quincey publishes his autobiographical account of opium addiction, 'Confessions of an English Opium-eater.'

1827  
E. Merck & Company of Darmstadt, Germany, begins commercial manufacturing of morphine.

1830  
The British dependence on opium for medicinal and recreational use reaches an all time high as 22,000 pounds of opium is imported from Turkey and India.

Jardine-Matheson & Company of London inherit India and its opium from the British East India Company once the mandate to rule and dictate the trade policies of British India are no longer in effect.

1837  
Elizabeth Barrett Browning falls under the spell of morphine. This, however, does not impede her ability to write "poetical paragraphs."

March 18, 1839  
Lin Tse-Hsu, imperial Chinese commissioner in charge of suppressing the opium traffic, orders all foreign traders to surrender their opium. In response, the British send expenditionary warships to the coast of China, beginning The First Opium War.

1840  
New Englanders bring 24,000 pounds of opium into the United States. This catches the attention of U.S. Customs which promptly puts a duty fee on the import.

1841  
The Chinese are defeated by the British in the First Opium War. Along with paying a large indemnity, Hong Kong is ceded to the British.

1843  
Dr. Alexander Wood of Edinburgh discovers a new technique of administering morphine, injection with a syringe. He finds the effects of morphine on his patients instantaneous and three times more potent.

1852  
The British arrive in lower Burma, importing large quantities of opium from India and selling it through a government-controlled opium monopoly.

1856  
The British and French renew their hostilities against China in the Second Opium War. In the aftermath of the struggle, China is forced to pay another indemnity. The importation of opium is legalized.

Opium production increases along the highlands of Southeast Asia.

1874  
English researcher, C.R. Wright first synthesizes heroin, or diacetylmorphine, by boiling morphine over a stove.

In San Francisco, smoking opium in the city limits is banned and is confined to neighboring Chinatowns and their opium dens.

1878  
Britain passes the Opium Act with hopes of reducing opium consumption. Under the new regulation, the selling of opium is restricted to registered Chinese opium smokers and Indian opium eaters while the Burmese are strictly prohibited from smoking opium.

1886  
The British acquire Burma's northeast region, the Shan state. Production and smuggling of opium along the lower region of Burma thrives despite British efforts to maintain a strict monopoly on the opium trade.

1890  
U.S. Congress, in its earliest law-enforcement legislation on narcotics, imposes a tax on opium and morphine.

Tabloids owned by William Randolph Hearst publish stories of white women being seduced by Chinese men and their opium to invoke fear of the 'Yellow Peril', disguised as an "anti-drug" campaign.

1895  
Heinrich Dreser working for The Bayer Company of Elberfeld, Germany, finds that diluting morphine with acetyls produces a drug without the common morphine side effects.Bayer begins production of diacetylmorphine and coins the name "heroin." Heroin would not be introduced commercially for another three years.

Early 1900's  
The philanthropic Saint James Society in the U.S. mounts a campaign to supply free samples of heroin through the mail to morphine addicts who are trying give up their habits.

Efforts by the British and French to control opium production in Southeast Asia are successful. Nevertheless, this Southeast region, referred to as the 'Golden Triangle', eventually becomes a major player in the profitable opium trade during the 1940's.

1902  
In various medical journals, physicians discuss the side effects of using heroin as a morphine step-down cure. Several physicians would argue that their patients suffered from heroin withdrawal symptoms equal to morphine addiction.

1903  
Heroin addiction rises to alarming rates.

1905  
U.S. Congress bans opium.
1906  
China and England finally enact a treaty restricting the Sino-Indian opium trade.

Several physicians experiment with treatments for heroin addiction. Dr. Alexander Lambert and Charles B. Towns tout their popular cure as the most "advanced, effective and compassionate cure" for heroin addiction. The cure consisted of a 7 day regimen, which included a five day purge of heroin from the addict's system with doses of belladonna delirium.

U.S. Congress passes the Pure Food and Drug Act requiring contents labeling on patent medicines by pharmaceutical companies. As a result, the availabilty of opiates and opiate consumers significantly declines.

1909  
The first federal drug prohibition passes in the U.S. outlawing the imporation of opium. It was passed in preparation for the Shanghai Conference, at which the US presses for legislation aimed at suppressing the sale of opium to China.

February 1, 1909  
The International Opium Commission convenes in Shanghai. Heading the U.S. delegation are Dr. Hamilton Wright and Episcopal Bishop Henry Brent. Both would try to convince the international delegation of the immoral and evil effects of opium.

1910  
After 150 years of failed attempts to rid the country of opium, the Chinese are finally successful in convincing the British to dismantle the India-China opium trade.

Dec. 17, 1914  
The passage of Harrison Narcotics Act which aims to curb drug (especially cocaine but also heroin) abuse and addiction. It requires doctors, pharmacists and others who prescribed narcotics to register and pay a tax.

1923  
The U.S. Treasury Department's Narcotics Division (the first federal drug agency) bans all legal narcotics sales. With the prohibition of legal venues to purchase heroin, addicts are forced to buy from illegal street dealers.

1925  
In the wake of the first federal ban on opium, a thriving black market opens up in New York's Chinatown.

1930's  
The majority of illegal heroin smuggled into the U.S. comes from China and is refined in Shanghai and Tietsin.

Early 1940's  
During World War II, opium trade routes are blocked and the flow of opium from India and Persia is cut off. Fearful of losing their opium monopoly, the French encourage Hmong farmers to expand their opium production.

1945-1947  
Burma gains its independence from Britain at the end of World War II. Opium cultivation and trade flourishes in the Shan states.

1948-1972  
Corsican gangsters dominate the U.S. heroin market through their connection with Mafia drug distributors. After refining the raw Turkish opium in Marseille laboratories, the heroin is made easily available for purchase by junkies on New York City streets.

1950's  
U.S. efforts to contain the spread of Communism in Asia involves forging alliances with tribes and warlords inhabiting the areas of the Golden Triangle, (an expanse covering Laos, Thailand and Burma), thus providing accessibility and protection along the southeast border of China. In order to maintain their relationship with the warlords while continuing to fund the struggle against communism, the U.S. and France supply the drug warlords and their armies with ammunition, arms and air transport for the production and sale of opium. The result: an explosion in the availability and illegal flow of heroin into the United States and into the hands of drug dealers and addicts.

1962  
Burma outlaws opium.

1965-1970  
U.S. involvement in Vietnam is blamed for the surge in illegal heroin being smuggled into the States. To aid U.S. allies, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sets up a charter airline, Air America, to transport raw opium from Burma and Laos. As well, some of the opium would be transported to Marseille by Corsican gangsters to be refined into heroin and shipped to the U.S via the French connection. The number of heroin addicts in the U.S. reaches an estimated 750,000.

October 1970  
Legendary singer, Janis Joplin, is found dead at Hollywood's Landmark Hotel, a victim of an "accidental heroin overdose."

1972  
Heroin exportation from Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle, controlled by Shan warlord, Khun Sa,becomes a major source for raw opium in the profitable drug trade.

July 1, 1973  
President Nixon creates the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) under the Justice Dept. to consolidate virtually all federal powers of drug enforcement in a single agency.

Mid-1970's  
Saigon falls. The heroin epidemic subsides. The search for a new source of raw opium yields Mexico's Sierra Madre. "Mexican Mud" would temporarily replace "China White" heroin until 1978.

1978  
The U.S. and Mexican governments find a means to eliminate the source of raw opium--by spraying poppy fields with Agent Orange. The eradication plan is termed a success as the amount of "Mexican Mud" in the U.S. drug market declines. In response to the decrease in availability of "Mexican Mud", another source of heroin is found in the Golden Crescent area--Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, creating a dramatic upsurge in the production and trade of illegal heroin.

1982  
Comedian John Belushi of Animal House fame, dies of a heroin-cocaine--"speedball" overdose.

Sept. 13, 1984  
U.S. State Department officials conclude, after more than a decade of crop substitution programs for Third World growers of marijuana, coca or opium poppies, that the tactic cannot work without eradication of the plants and criminal enforcement. Poor results are reported from eradicationprograms in Burma, Pakistan, Mexico and Peru.

1988  
Opium production in Burma increases under the rule of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), the Burmese junta regime.

The single largest heroin seizure is made in Bangkok. The U.S. suspects that the 2,400-pound shipment of heroin, en route to New York City, originated from the Golden Triangle region, controlled by drug warlord, Khun Sa.

1990  
A U.S. Court indicts Khun Sa, leader of the Shan United Army and reputed drug warlord, on heroin trafficking charges. The U.S. Attorney General's office charges Khun Sa with importing 3,500 pounds of heroin into New York City over the course of eighteen months, as well as holding him responsible for the source of the heroin seized in Bangkok.

1992  
Colombia's drug lords are said to be introducing a high-grade form of heroin into the United States.

1993  

The Thai army with support from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) launches its operation to destroy thousands of acres of opium poppies from the fields of the Golden Triangle region.

October 31, 1993  
Heroin takes another well-known victim. Twenty-three-year-old actor River Phoenix dies of a heroin-cocaine overdose, the same "speedball" combination that killed comedian John Belushi.

January 1994  
Efforts to eradicate opium at its source remains unsuccessful. The Clinton Administration orders a shift in policy away from the anti- drug campaigns of previous administrations. Instead the focus includes "institution building" with the hope that by "strengthening democratic governments abroad, [it] will foster law-abiding behavior and promote legitimate economic opportunity."

April 1994  
Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the Seattle-based alternative rock band, Nirvana, dies of heroin-related suicide.

1995  
The Golden Triangle region of Southeast Asia is now the leader in opium production, yielding 2,500 tons annually. According to U.S. drug experts, there are new drug trafficking routes from Burma through Laos, to southern China, Cambodia and Vietnam.

January 1996  

Khun Sa, one of Shan state's most powerful drug warlords, "surrenders" to SLORC. The U.S. is suspicious and fears that this agreement between the ruling junta regime and Khun Sa includes a deal allowing "the opium king" to retain control of his opium trade but in exchange end his 30-year-old revolutionary war against the government.

November 1996  
International drug trafficking organizations, including China, Nigeria, Colombia and Mexico are said to be "aggressively marketing heroin in the United States and Europe."

References  

Booth, Martin. Opium: A History. London: Simon & Schuster, Ltd., 1996.

Latimer, Dean, and Jeff Goldberg with an Introduction by William Burroughs. Flowers in the Blood: The Story of Opium. New York: Franklin Watts, 1981

McCoy, Alfred W. The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade. New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1991.

Musto, David F. The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

 

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/etc/history.html

21 posted on 04/17/2013 3:09:52 AM PDT by TArcher ("TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS, governments are instituted among men" -- Does that still work?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enterprise

>>good for the cartels and good for the politicians they buy

Cartels and politicians?

The historical record makes it a little difficult to distinguish one from the other.

Got Tea?


22 posted on 04/17/2013 3:12:49 AM PDT by TArcher ("TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS, governments are instituted among men" -- Does that still work?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: max americana

I’m not in favor of more regulation, but if you don’t think we have a problem with prescription narcotic pain med abuse, think again. I see drug seekers every day in the ER.


23 posted on 04/17/2013 3:41:25 AM PDT by Kozak (The Republic is dead. I do not owe what we have any loyalty, wealth or sympathy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Kozak
I’m not in favor of more regulation, but if you don’t think we have a problem with prescription narcotic pain med abuse, think again. I see drug seekers every day in the ER.

I'm sure you do, but the government has gotten so heavy handed with doctors that they are afraid to prescribe painkillers even to suffering 80 and 90 year olds.

24 posted on 04/17/2013 3:57:27 AM PDT by old and tired
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: cherry
the govt is protecting some big donors, period....why let a cheaper version of a drug that THEY approved into circulation....what would happen to all the drug profits?.

Yep. They gave Celebrex an extension rather than let it go generic.

25 posted on 04/17/2013 4:11:49 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte ( Pray for Obama- Psalm 109:8)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: old and tired
I'm sure you do, but the government has gotten so heavy handed with doctors that they are afraid to prescribe painkillers even to suffering 80 and 90 year olds.

That is the truth. I laugh at the argument that a terminal 90 year old cancer patient needs to be protected from the addictive properties of morphine, fentanyl, or oxcontin. They are TERMINAL - let them at least be without pain in the time they have left. The addiction is moot, at that point!

26 posted on 04/17/2013 6:07:17 AM PDT by RobertClark (My shrink just killed himself - he blamed me in his note!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: TArcher

Very interesting. Thanks for posting it.


27 posted on 04/17/2013 6:26:58 AM PDT by OldPossum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

You are exactly right. The bad guys are screwing it up for patients with chronic pain. The biggest problem that I see is detecting drug diversion. I have a pain practice in the Milwaukee area and we are constantly weeding out drug diverters. Sometimes they bring in cold or hot urine, other times they pill shave (shave a little bit of their narcotic to falsely test positive), sometimes there is no narcotic in the urine even thigh they should have a detectable amount if they were taking their narcotic meds as prescribed. We even check the court record site and find some have been recently convicted of narcotic trafficking.
But the biggest threat for pain docs is the DEA. At every visit, patients must answer on a form with signature, whether they are involved in drug
selling or if they are under investigation for such activity. We maintain constantly vigilance for stings and patient informant.


28 posted on 04/17/2013 6:47:30 AM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: OldPossum

You’re welcome FRiend.


29 posted on 04/17/2013 4:36:45 PM PDT by TArcher ("TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS, governments are instituted among men" -- Does that still work?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai; SheLion; Eric Blair 2084; -YYZ-; 31R1O; 383rr; AFreeBird; AGreatPer; Alamo-Girl; Alia; ...

Corporate-protectionist War-on-Drugs Nanny State PING!


30 posted on 04/17/2013 5:00:14 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Drag Me From Hell!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TArcher

Actually in this case this is the right move. The generic companies should not have to meet the most minimum standards to market. They should have to comply with the standards that the original marketing applicant has to abide by. The marketing holder reformulated due to pressure and withdrew the original product from the market. So, by logic, there is no non-reformulated version to market a generic for.


31 posted on 04/17/2013 5:35:10 PM PDT by Bmore (Longtime reader, first time caller...err...poster.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Kozak

So let them have their stupid drugs at market prices for cash on the counter and send them on their way. Quit destroying the American legal system, medical system, and the Constitution. If they show up later with an overdose put them on a gurney and leave them to die. Then toss the corpse into the trash bin.


32 posted on 04/17/2013 5:42:24 PM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Thanks for the ping!


33 posted on 04/17/2013 9:10:03 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai
OxyContin has long been one the nation’s top-selling prescription painkillers with sales of more than $2.8 billion last year, according to prescription tracker IMS Health.

And black market sales about $10 billion (from appearances, about a billion right here in Maine).

34 posted on 04/18/2013 12:00:03 AM PDT by metesky (Brethren, leave us go amongst them! - Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond, The Searchers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

It’s not because the CEO of Purdue Pharma gave $16,500 to Democrats and $3000 to Republicans.


35 posted on 04/18/2013 12:10:02 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lurker

Fine with me. Also make sure they don’t get disability for their addiction, no welfare or Medicaid and don’t make me see them fr teir abscesses, pneumonia and scabies etc.


36 posted on 04/18/2013 4:42:22 AM PDT by Kozak (The Republic is dead. I do not owe what we have any loyalty, wealth or sympathy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Kozak

I’m good with all that, too. Do all the drugs you want, but not one nickel from the taxpayer to clean up you mess.


37 posted on 04/18/2013 6:52:49 AM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson