
How the Reformulation of OxyContin Ignited the Heroin Epidemic [pdf] - Dowwie
https://www3.nd.edu/~elieber/research/ELP.pdf
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NPMaxwell
Some details from posted article: Until August 2010, Oxycontin could be
transformed into a drug with a quick intense high by grinding it into a
powder. Grinding disables its time-release technology. Florida regulations
supported the creation of clinics providing easier access to Oxycontin to
Floridians and others near I-75. In 8/2010, material were added so that
grinding no longer was effective. Recreational users switched to heroin, more
so in markets with more heroin availability. In 2013, suppliers began mixing
fentanyl into heroin, creating a drug with an even more intense high. The
switch to heroin from Oxycontin appears to have prevented any reduction in
heroin/opioid overdose mortality rates. The introduction of fentanyl appears
to have increased opioid mortality rates 4 or 5 times.

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nerdponx
Unintended consequences. And it was actually the drug company trying to do the
right thing, for once.

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r00fus
Pretty sure the original (unreasonable) availability of Oxycontin which caused
the problems.

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wyldfire
The original problem was that Purdue Pharma misrepresented it as having less
risk of addiction.

~~~
jandrese
I've wondered about that claim. Was there an asterisk next to that claim that
said (*compared to Black Tar Heroin)? Given how crazy addictive it turned out
to be shouldn't Purdue be held accountable for false advertising and public
endangerment?

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thrillgore
I had family develop a dependency on Oxycontin. As someone else described,
they would snort it for relief. Unfortunately, he passed a year ago due to
opioid related reasons. It still hasn't quite hit my father, who also had a
similar dependency but has been able to stop using it after a rehab stint.

I don't usually blame problems on a medication, but Oxycontin nearly tore my
family apart, as it did countless others. Perdue and its shareholders are
complicit in a Great American Tragedy playing out today with Fentanyl and
Heroin. I hope they all freeze to death in hell.

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nootropicat
I wonder if legal drugs, unquestionably the only sane policy, are ever going
to happen. People all over the world overwhelmingly and increasibly support
deontological view of the law over consequentialist, ie. _not_ banning
something is interpreted as supporting it; only the signal matters, results
are irrelevant. That's why marijuana is the only outlier: its use is becoming
_accepted_.

[https://www.vox.com/2016/3/15/11224500/marijuana-
legalizatio...](https://www.vox.com/2016/3/15/11224500/marijuana-legalization-
war-on-drugs-poll)

~~~
jimbob21
So it's totally cool if someone takes PCP and goes on a killing spree?

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Dowwie
Additional discussion: [https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-
analysis/abuse-dete...](https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-
analysis/abuse-deterrent-opioids-law-unintended-consequences)

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quantumleap22
The sackler family are upper class drug lords. Medical schools should be
ashamed to take a dime of their blood money.

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jhull
I wonder why the out of pocket price of Oxycontin spikes so dramatically each
January (see figure 4)

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neohaven
Insurance deductible.

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roflchoppa
interesting, this was around the time that my old colleagues started to
dabble. Most got hooked into the hard stuff themselves.

