Over the Counter Drug Abuse
Over the Counter Drug Abuse: Just What We Don’t Need By Ned Wicker In the last decade the abuse of opiate pain killers has spiked dramatically, mainly because of the availability of drugs like OxyContin, made from the highly addictive hydrocodone. The abuse is rampant and the availability of the drug on the street is ample. Now it appears as though the oxy is child’s play in comparison to a new drug in development. Enter Zohydro, manufactured by Zogenix of San Diego. Imagine having a choice of taking Vicodin, or having an alternative that is 10 times more powerful. It all adds up to trouble. Always want more! We live in a society that demands that nothing is ever enough. We want it stronger, faster and cheaper. We believe that we are entitled to any means necessary to ensure that we can live without pain, live as long as absolutely possible and if we don’t, we’ll sue. As much misery as opiate pain killers have caused over the years, only in America can we imagine that it could get much worse. Chris Hawley of the Associated Press wrote, “Critics say they are especially worried about Zohydro, a timed-release drug meant for managing moderate to severe pain, because abusers could crush it to release an intense, immediate high... OxyContin, introduced in 1995 by Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., was designed to manage pain with a formula that dribbled one dose of oxycodone over many hours. Abusers quickly discovered they could defeat the timed-release feature by crushing the pills. Purdue Pharma changed the formula to make OxyContin more tamper-resistant, but addicts have moved onto generic oxycodone and other drugs that do not have a timed-release feature.” At present, the hydrocodone is mixed with non-addictive pain killers, but if approved, the new drug would give people the opportunity to get a prescription for pure hydrocodone. It doesn’t take much imagination to foresee a tremendous potential for abuse and the complications that would bring. Oxycodone and Hydrocodone often abused At present, oxycodone and hydrocodone are the two most abused drugs of their type out there. The flood of opiate pills on the market have created an ever-growing market for new abusers, a kind of pushers paradise. The AP article was chilling in its cold, matter-of-fact approach to the subject. Hawley’s article continued, "It's like the wild west," said Peter Jackson, co-founder of Advocates for the Reform of Prescription Opioids. "The whole supply-side system is set up to perpetuate this massive unloading of opioid narcotics on the American public." The pharmaceutical industry will claim that the new drug gives doctors another option in treating pain. In the name of helping older Americans, they will say the drug will give quality of life to those in their “Golden Years,” or they will somehow justify the need for this powerful narcotic for its ability to numb an elephant. In the 1850’s, German scientists developed a opiate medication that promised effective pain management and no addictive properties. Enter morphine. It was indeed a miracle drug that did just as the manufacturer said, only it was highly addictive. Used widely during the Civil War, many surviving veterans left military service with a dependence on morphine. The scientists went back to the drawing board and came back with a newer, better product, guaranteed to not be addictive. Heroin, however, had even greater problems. Best intentions often go wrong. Assuming that the pharmaceutical industry is well-intentioned and desires only to serve mankind with an effective pain medication, we cannot overlook the history of such efforts which clearly predicts that even the best of intentions can go afoul. With the rampant abuse of hydrocodone and oxycodone in this country one can reasonably deduct that having a pill 10 times stronger will yield a greater social and national health problem. Risk NOT worth it! The risk in this case is not worth the benefit. According to reports, patients will get one prescription for the new drug, with no refills. That means they have to make a return office visit and have their physician write a new script. Patients currently can get up to five refills for the less potent hydrocodone, laced with acetaminophen. Playing the devil’s advocate for a moment, what if a doctor had incentive to prescribe the new pill, knowing that a patient had very real potential for developing a substance use disorder and would make return office visits, billable of course, or there was some sort of financial incentive from the pharmaceutical industry to recommend the new drug? The vast majority of doctors would bristle at such a prospect, but even the medical community has its sleazy side of the tracks. Even legitimate patients, who desire nothing but relief from their pain, are becoming addicted to the current meds available, so the idea of the new, higher-potency drug becoming available is rather frightening. The Associated Press article warned of a new business model. "You've got a person on your product for life, and a doctor's got a patient who's never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn't get their prescription, they would feel very sick," said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. "It's a terrific business model, and that's what these companies want to get in on." There are companies heavily involved with the Food and Drug Administration currently, as testing continues. Still more are waiting in the wings to see what happens in this initial round of testing to see if they want to jump into this potentially enormous market. The companies are not eager to share their plans, keeping hush-hush about the projects. Problems with MORE opiate addiction Aside from the obvious health issues are the social issues. The rise in opiate addiction in this country has led to crime, from the robberies of pharmacies to murders on the street. Hospitals around the country lose countless millions of dollars treating overdose patients, who of course have no health insurance and no ability to pay for their services. Emergency room visits have skyrocketed from just under 20,000 in 2000, to over 85,000 in 2009, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Purely for the money Forgive the cynic in me. I see the development of the new hydrocodone product as purely a financial endeavor, having little or nothing to do with the well-being of the public. The drug companies are going to get their approval and they will flood the market with this new powerful pain killer. The abuse will start from day one. Most doctors will try to be very careful in prescribing this medication, and some will make millions just writing scripts. I can’t help but think about a statement I heard from Dr. Carlton Erickson of the University of Texas, who shared that meditation can have the same impact on the brain as an opiate. It seems to me that we vastly prefer the easier way. Pop a pill and be happy. The problem is the unintended consequences are devastating. For more about Over the Counter Drug Abuse link to Books Over the Counter Drug Abuse, Over the Counter Drug AbuseOver the Counter Drug Abuse, Over the Counter Drug AbuseOver the Counter Drug Abuse, Over the Counter Drug AbuseOver the Counter Drug Abuse, Over the Counter Drug AbuseOver the Counter Drug Abuse, Over the Counter Drug AbuseOver the Counter Drug Abuse, Over the Counter Drug Abuse HOW TO USE THIS SITE:This site contains five MAIN pages that EVERYONE should read:ABOUT… Read these five pages and learn what you need to know to spot Addiction to Drugs in: Yourself... Your Family... Your Friends... Your Community... The rest of the pages are there for your reference to explain important topics in more detail.
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