New York, NY – The prescription drug abuse epidemic in New York City is escalating, with the number of prescriptions for oxycodone doubling citywide during the past three years, the city’s special narcotics prosecutor testified Tuesday.
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In 2010, more than 1 million prescriptions for oxycodone—the generic name for an opiate-based pain reliever commonly prescribed as OxyContin—were filled in the five boroughs, Bridget Brennan, the city’s special narcotics prosecutor, told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee.
That equates to one prescription for every eight people in New York City, or 13% of the total population.
“The public flat out needs to be better informed about how widespread the problem is and how dangerously addictive these substances are,” Ms. Brennan said. “It’s pure opium. And that’s an addictive drug. It’s nothing to be played with.”
Read full article in Wall Street Journal
As someone who suffers from chronic pain (although I don’t take oxycontin), when you are having a lot of pain, these drugs do not make you “high.” They are for pain control.
Statistics lie!
Enough prescriptions have been written for the 1 in 8 number. The same few people are getting these filled for use, abuse or resale. I really doubt that 1 of 8 new Yorkers even know what the drug is.
The math in this article is terrible – it assumes that each prescription was filled by a different person. If one person has a prescription that they refill once a month, that’s twelve prescriptions in the year. Oxycodone is generally prescribed for chronic pain, not something that comes and goes quickly, so while not everybody getting it is likely to have had twelve prescriptions last year, it certainly wasn’t prescribed to one million people. I’d guess the real number of New Yorkers filling such prescriptions is much closer to 85-100,000.
There certainly is legitimate use for pain medication. However, the abuse of prescription medications is rampant, and has become the rage in the world of drug abusers. It is far easier to procure a prescription for any of several opiate drugs than to purchase the other illegal drugs on the street. There is no penalty for possessing Oxycontin if you have a prescription. It is a great medication, but is too easily obtained through doctors as well as online pharmacies. The addiction professionals have all watched the trends through the years, and these opiates are the current one. These drugs are to be considered as if they are pharmaceutical grade heroin. The addiction is serious, the dangers are very real, including overdose, and treatment is intensive and costly. By the way, the problem with these drugs is just as bad within the frum community as anywhere else. Perhaps doctors prescribing Oxycontin and similar medications should be subjected to audits to verify that these drugs are not being overprescribed and basically put onto the street.
I suspect that not everyone taking oxy-contin is suffering from chronic pain. The overuse of such a potent, addictive substance presents a clear and present danger not only to users but to those who come into contact with addicts.
Except for Rabbi Abraham Twerski, MD, few if any of our rabbis address issues like alcoholism and drug abuse–an especially important topic this weekend.
there is a wide spread abuse of this drug while the same people may be getting these RX’ed every month they need to learn how to manage the pain without resorting to drug every time the pain level rises
this is where marijuana comes in as pain control without the side effects, already used in 13 states.
There are some people who suffer from chronic pain (from painful hip, back, and joint pain), and who are not candidates for back, hip, or spine surgery). Should those people be left to suffer like dogs, because Doctors don’t want to write presriptions for their legitimate pain? I certainly don’t think so! There are other drugs (i.e. Vicodin) which could be prescribed for people in constant pain. I don’t believe in collective punishment; if people are abusing drugs, they should be held accountable. However, people who have a legitimate medical need for pain killers, should not be punished, because of those who abuse drugs.
The article does not say that 1 in 8 use Oxycontin it says that there ” are more than 1 million prescriptions for oxycodone…were filled in the five boroughs…That equates to one prescription for every eight people in New York City, or 13% of the total population.”
Basically if every proscription was for a separate individually it would by 1 in 8 but they never said all proscriptions were for discrete individuals. Mostly likely some people have multiple or fake ‘scripts making it less that 1 in 8.