'Celebrity drug hits Sydney'

[Conan Troutman]

By Clair Weaver

June 17, 2007 12:00am

A POWERFUL drug nicknamed "hillbilly heroin" is spilling onto the streets of Sydney and hooking a new breed of addicts.

Experts warn oxycodone is so addictive that it is usually only prescribed by doctors as a strong painkiller for the terminally ill.

However, it is growing as a cheap and more potent alternative to heroin, which is in short supply in Australia.

At the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in Kings Cross, records show oxycodone and morphine have surpassed illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine and "ice'' to become the most commonly used substances over the past year.

Classed as pharmaceutical opioids, they have quadrupled in use since 2005 and now account for about 40 per cent of visits to the injecting room.

Users crush up pills to remove slow-release binders before snorting or injecting the powder to get a bigger "hit''.

An overdose can be deadly or cause permanent damage.

Sold under the brand name OxyContin, oxycodone has wreaked havoc in the US, where celebrity users have been forced to seek rehabilitation.

Reported high-profile users include Lindsay Lohan, Jack Osbourne, Courtney Love and Winona Ryder. Hundreds of others have died.

Under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), a packet of 20 or 60 pills costs $4.90 with a doctor's prescription and comes with the warning "the risk of drug dependence is high''.

Each 80mg pill fetches from $25 to $50 on the street.

Patients who would receive legitimate prescriptions of the medication include those who are dying of cancer, have terminal HIV or suffer from chronic pain, doctors say.

The Sydney MSIC report for June, 2007, which was released last Thursday, noted the increase in oxycodone and morphine use.

"From July, 2005 there was a marked increase in the number and proportion of injections involving opioids other than heroin and a corresponding decline in visits to inject heroin,'' it states.

"From April, 2006 to May, 2007 the use of heroin and other opioids was comparable.''

This means that between 2000 and 3000 visits to the centre each month are for oxycodone or morphine.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/stor...5006010,00.html Edited June 17, 2007 by Conan Troutman

[Conan Troutman]

Roll out the red carpet

Obviously dont know the people I do...

[Auxin]

worth 50 AUD a pill?

Fuck sake, my dad takes 7 of those a day, they come in lots of 200.

If he werent addicted to 'em we could be rich

[shruman]

"worth 50 AUD a pill?"

Yeah that is a bit high mayb 20 but what ever an addict can get so they can get smack.

'Celebrity drug hits Sydney' What a joke oxy has been round for ages.

Foaf loves oxy way better than morph or any other opi he's tried (almost everything except H) for foaf way more euphoric less sedated than morph & the slow release lasts ages unless u chew which is hard not to but still long acting.

"Users crush up pills to remove slow-release binders before snorting or injecting the powder to get a bigger "hit''."

I hadnt heard of anyone injecting & was told it was a big no-no with oxy by a needle fiend who wouldnt go near them with a needle (he would even shoot codiene ).

[PD.]

now i know what all those freakin papparazi were doin hangin around dc's house.

[Anodyne]

Users crush up pills to remove slow-release binders before snorting or injecting the powder to get a bigger "hit''

Wow, all you need to do is crush them up? Do you think we should tell the meth cooks?

[teonanacatl]

LOL

[Conan Troutman]

....I love 'the news'

Crush and shoot, geeez people do that

Auxin-going rate in US is around $1 a mg mark...yes thats right!

As far as prices go in oz, they can be upto $1 a mg aswell I hear (mostly $50)...and not that that it makes much difference to the doctor shoppers out there, but I dont think many people are able to claim them on the PBS at $4 a box more like around $60 a box I think.

[ergoamide]

I've only ever heard of a very small amount of people using them in ways other than shooting. Prices go from around $30-80 depending on how greedy the person selling them is. And on pbs they are $6 a box. They are preffered over over morphine by almost every user i know.

[PD.]

They are preffered over over morphine by almost every user i know.

Alot different to morph. Very stimulating imo compared to morphine. Most ppl i know prefer the morph pills if they are opi fiends, thats why the oxys are cheaper.

[PhantomTurkey]

I saw an instance on the news of someone dying from that. It is so unnecessary. If people would only educate themselves before poisoning themselves. It not hard to find evidence that heroin and misuse of substances such as OxyContin can and do ruin lives, yet people still insist on doing it to themselves. People need to read up and make informed choices. If people are going to take any sort of mind altering substance, it makes sense for their own benefit to get as much info as possible about it.

[Conan Troutman]

Drugmaker to pay $19.5 mil to settle OxyContin lawsuit

Associated Press

May. 9, 2007 12:00 AM

Critics have long accused Purdue Frederick of putting profits ahead of public interest and lying about the addictive potential of the wildly popular, hot-selling, and highly-abused drug.

On May 10th 2007, the Stamford, Connecticut-based The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc., pleaded guilty to felony charges that they purposely misbranded the painkiller OxyContin with intent to mislead and defraud. Purdue and the three executives will pay a total of $634,515,475. President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Friedman, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Howard Udell, and former Executive Vice President of Worldwide Medical Affairs Paul D. Goldenheim, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of misbranding OxyContin. The pleas were entered in United States District Court in Abingdon. The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc., and the three executives have admitted that Purdue fraudulently marketed OxyContin by falsely claiming that OxyContin was less addictive, less subject to abuse, and less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms than other pain medications when there was no medical research to support these claims and without Food and Drug Administration approval of these claims.

Purdue Pharma L.P. has also settled accusations regarding its promotion of OxyContin by paying $19.5 million to 26 states and the District of Columbia. Several states complained that Purdue was encouraging physicians to prescribe the 12-hour time release drug for use every 8 hours, contrary to the dosage approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/b...contin0509.html Edited June 18, 2007 by Conan Troutman

[Auxin]

Purdue and the three executives will pay a total of $634,515,475.

Holy Motherfuck, thats a typo right? Dont get me wrong, they deserve it and more but it almost seems like justice! An odd sight.

They should really crack down on this shit, docs have my dad hopelessly addicted to this drug- he wont eat, he wont take care of his health, all that matters is sucking down his oxy/paracetmol 10/500's every 3 hours as perscribed. Cant do anything about it because "its legal"... legal for doctors to be drug pushers.

[Guest Øskorei]

I can vouch for the addictiveness of these types of pharms, as in late '05 I was taking up to 8 Oxy and four of slower release conterparts, along with four p.forte every day for 12 days straight. Was permanently in the O zone (but not asleep), couldn't shit, just laid there and listened to my portable CD player and tried to get it together when friends/family came to visit. The fucking idiotic thing is that whenever I mentioned to nursing staff or part of the treating doctor's posse of interns that they weren't actually doing anything for the searing spasms of pain that tore into me every couple of hours, they simply kept increasing the dose, first with the p.fortes, then replacing those with oxy's. Needless to say, there were some pretty awful few days when I was released, as I weaned off them. My advise to anyone thinking of trying these types of pills out as a cheap opiate, DONT UNDERESTIMATE THEM. And anyway, the high is not that flash to start with.

[stonewolf]

Oxy is easier to get than H? I've stumbled across heroin more than a few times without trying but have never come across oxy.

[Auxin]

whenever I mentioned to nursing staff or part of the treating doctor's posse of interns that they weren't actually doing anything for the searing spasms of pain that tore into me every couple of hours, they simply kept increasing the dose

I can relate to that. From the age of 5 to 19 I had a gastrointestinal problem that caused constant daily pain. I went through 30 doctors, all of whom blindly prescribed me stomach meds which many times didnt even vaguely fit the symptoms I had. If I complained more I just got more useless pills that did nothing to help. Theres no way to know how much damage those did to my health but when I was 19 one doctor finally got lucky and gave me the newest blockbuster pill and it helped a little! Reduced the pain by half. It was then instantly pulled off the market because it was found to be doing massive liver damage and killing healthy patients The doctor that prescribed it, because it was just a lucky guess, still had no idea how to help me.

Thats when I made the best decision of my life, I decided doctors didnt actually have a clue and couldnt be expected to get one. I went up to my doc, said 'thank you very much but your fired ' (you should have seen the confused look on his face, he was never taught that doctors work for the patients). I started investigating for myself, figured out the problem, and cured it with no meds! Just like 2% of the whole fucking population I'm chocolate intolerant, 1 gram of the shit puts me in pain for 5 days straight, more during that 5 days will screw me for 2 weeks. Six Million People in my country have this prob but the doctors never tried to figure out my problem, their only concern was licking the shit off the arses of the megarich pharmaceutical companies and using me as a pawn to increase sales of precious designer name drugs.

Many doctors dont give a rats ass about patients, and the ones that do care are never taught how to actually HEAL PEOPLE and so can only dole out poison in hopes that it helps more people than it harms.

All y'all should start learning some basics of medicine now because when the shit hits the fan you really dont want your only option to be doctors.

Edit: (link)

Edited June 19, 2007 by Auxin

[SirLSD]

Alot different to morph. Very stimulating imo compared to morphine. Most ppl i know prefer the morph pills if they are opi fiends, thats why the oxys are cheaper.

oxys cheaper than morph? wtf? wish i lived there. and ppl prefering morph to oxy? oxys rule over morph. easily injectable too. i cant even find any oxys. though they go for $50 an 80mg.