OxyContin ®
What is OxyContin?
OxyContin ® is the brand name of a time-release formula of the analgesic chemical oxycodone. OxyContin ® , which is produced by the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, is prescribed as a pain medication. Instances of abuse of this drug have increased in recent years.
Street terms for OxyContin: Hillbilly heroin, Oxy, Oxycotton.
 What does OxyContin look like?
- OxyContin comes in tablet form.
What are the methods of usage?
- Chewing the tablets
- Snorting crushed tablets
- Dissolving tablets in water and injecting
- These methods cause a faster, highly dangerous release of medication.
Who uses OxyContin?
- Abuse of OxyContin in rural Maine, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia brought national attention to this problem.
- The areas most currently affected by OxyContin abuse are eastern Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; southern Maine; Philadelphia and southwestern Pennsylvania; southwestern Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Phoenix, Arizona.
- An increase in illegal use has been especially apparent on the East Coast.
- 9% or 19.9 million Americans have used pain relievers illegally in their lifetime.
How does OxyContin get to the United States?
- Because it is a legal drug, OxyContin is supplied across the country for legitimate medical purposes.
- Word of mouth has allowed users to devise illicit usage techniques.
- Pharmacy robberies, health care fraud, and international trafficking constitute illicit distribution ability.
How much does OxyContin cost?
- When legally sold, a 10-mg tablet of OxyContin will cost $1.25 and an 80-mg tablet will cost $6.
- When illegally sold, a 10-mg tablet of OxyContin can cost between $5 and $10. An 80-mg tablet can cost between $65 and $80.
What are some consequences of illicit OxyContin use?
- Long-term usage can lead to physical dependence.
- A large dosage can cause severe respiratory depression that can lead to death.
- Withdrawal symptoms include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, and involuntary leg movements.
1 Office of National Drug Control Policy, Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade .
2 Drug Enforcement Administration, OxyContinT: Pharmaceutical Diversion , March 2002.
3 DEA Congressional Testimony, December 11, 2001 .
4 Office of National Drug Control Policy, OxyContin Fact Sheet .
5 United States Department of Justice, OxyContin Diversion and Abuse , January 2001.
6 National Institute on Drug Abuse, Prescription Drugs: Abuse and Addiction , February 2002.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
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