Array
(
[a_id] => 241299
[c_id] => 1
[r_id] => 0
[rr_id] => 0
[m_id] => 0
[s_id] => 25646
[id_id] => 0
[v_id] => 0
[loc_id] => 0
[ft_id] => 0
[a_classification] => news
[a_layout] => 1
[a_headline] => OxyContin Abusers Likely to Turn to Heroin
[a_sheadline] => OxyContin Abusers Likely to Turn to Heroin
[a_slug] => oxycontin-abusers-likely-turn-heroin-241299
[a_subheadline] =>
[a_summary] => In August 2010, OxyContin changed its formula to be “abuse-resistant,” making it impossible to crush the pills or to mix them with water. The result was that users replaced OxyContin with other opioid medications and heroin.
[a_article] =>
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “[in] 2007, the number of deaths involving opioid analgesics was 1.93 times the number involving cocaine and 5.38 times the number involving heroin.”
Kicking off the prescription pill epidemic was OxyContin. While it was meant to be abuse-resistant with its slow-release capsule, it was so potent that users quickly discerned how to crush the pills or blend them with water in order to obtain their high.
In August 2010, OxyContin changed its formula to be “abuse-resistant,” making it impossible to crush the pills or to mix them with water. The result, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was “an abuse-deterrent formulation successfully reduced abuse of a specific drug but also generated an unanticipated outcome: replacement of the abuse-deterrent formulation with alternative opioid medications and heroin, a drug that may pose a much greater overall risk to public health than OxyContin.”
The study was undertaken by researchers at Nova Southeastern University, led by Theodore J. Cicero, PhD, and was conducted from July 2009 to March 2012. The researchers administered surveys to over 2,500 patients who had been classified as having opioid dependence. Of those, over 100 agreed to telephone or online interviews.
While they found that the amount of people whose primary drug of abuse was OxyContin had decreased from 35.6 percent to 12.8 percent. They also found that, when they asked if they had used OxyContin to get high in the past 30 days, the number of people who agreed had fallen from 47.4 percent of participants. Meanwhile, the number of respondents who said that they had used heroin had doubled.
But not everyone is convinced by the correlation. Dr. Adam Bisaga, associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, said that he believed that the demographics of people who abused OxyContin were not the same people who abused heroin. He said that he thought that it was more likely that previous abusers of OxyContin were ingesting six pills of Vicodin to feed their high.
Regardless, Cicero is convinced that more proactive steps need to be taken to ensure that people avoid the abuse of prescription painkillers, particularly OxyContin. He believes that instead of trying to curb supply, lawmakers and drug manufacturers should be trying to curb demand – through educational campaigns that compare oxycontin to street drugs like cocaine or crack.
The majority of people who abuse prescription painkillers, Cicero said, had started when they were 14 or 15 years old.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “[in] 2007, the number of deaths involving opioid analgesics was 1.93 times the number involving cocaine and 5.38 times the number involving heroin.”
Kicking off the prescription pill epidemic was OxyContin. While it was meant to be abuse-resistant with its slow-release capsule, it was so potent that users quickly discerned how to crush the pills or blend them with water in order to obtain their high.
In August 2010, OxyContin changed its formula to be “abuse-resistant,” making it impossible to crush the pills or to mix them with water. The result, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was “an abuse-deterrent formulation successfully reduced abuse of a specific drug but also generated an unanticipated outcome: replacement of the abuse-deterrent formulation with alternative opioid medications and heroin, a drug that may pose a much greater overall risk to public health than OxyContin.”
The study was undertaken by researchers at Nova Southeastern University, led by Theodore J. Cicero, PhD, and was conducted from July 2009 to March 2012. The researchers administered surveys to over 2,500 patients who had been classified as having opioid dependence. Of those, over 100 agreed to telephone or online interviews.
While they found that the amount of people whose primary drug of abuse was OxyContin had decreased from 35.6 percent to 12.8 percent. They also found that, when they asked if they had used OxyContin to get high in the past 30 days, the number of people who agreed had fallen from 47.4 percent of participants. Meanwhile, the number of respondents who said that they had used heroin had doubled.
But not everyone is convinced by the correlation. Dr. Adam Bisaga, associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, said that he believed that the demographics of people who abused OxyContin were not the same people who abused heroin. He said that he thought that it was more likely that previous abusers of OxyContin were ingesting six pills of Vicodin to feed their high.
Regardless, Cicero is convinced that more proactive steps need to be taken to ensure that people avoid the abuse of prescription painkillers, particularly OxyContin. He believes that instead of trying to curb supply, lawmakers and drug manufacturers should be trying to curb demand – through educational campaigns that compare oxycontin to street drugs like cocaine or crack.
The majority of people who abuse prescription painkillers, Cicero said, had started when they were 14 or 15 years old.
The study also revealed that individuals who quit smoking, regardless of age, can achieve a life expectancy similar to non-smokers within approximately 10 years after quitting, and nearly half of this benefit can be noticed within just three years.
Researchers found that a combination of genetics and environmental factors reduces longevity in dementia patients. The same combination may shorten the lives of their siblings even without dementia.
The suicide rates increase substantially when air pollution rises, and the effect was particularly strong in the elderly, with older women 2.5 times more at risk than other groups.
While mental stress is commonly acknowledged in connection with grief, it is crucial to understand that grief can also present physical symptoms, including illnesses, fatigue, pain, and sleep disturbances.
The use of antidepressants, particularly fluoxetine, could affect the development of the prefrontal cortex of the infant's brain, potentially raising the risk of mental health disorders later in their life.
Researchers have developed smart earrings that could continuously monitor a person's earlobe temperature. The innovation known as Thermal Earring could also be potentially used to track signs of ovulation, stress, eating, and exercise.
The researchers made the interesting finding using a trial involving patients with a rare genetic condition called Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD).
People infected with the flu were more likely to need hospital care in the following year for common neurologic conditions than people who had the SARS-CoV2 infection.
Among women with a history of pregnancy complications, those who achieved or maintained high heart health after pregnancy were at a similar risk for heart disease as women without adverse pregnancy outcomes and good cardiovascular health, the study stated.
The study published in the journal BMJ indicated that individuals with hypermobile joints had a 30% higher chance of not fully recovering from COVID-19 and experiencing persistent fatigue associated with long COVID.
The studies showed that COVID antigens lingered in the blood up to 14 months after infection and more than two years in tissue samples of people who had the infection.
Those individuals who receive a COVID-19 vaccine during the first half of their menstrual cycle are more likely to experience cycle length changes than those receiving a vaccine in the latter half.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “[in] 2007, the number of deaths involving opioid analgesics was 1.93 times the number involving cocaine and 5.38 times the number involving heroin.”
Kicking off the prescription pill epidemic was OxyContin. While it was meant to be abuse-resistant with its slow-release capsule, it was so potent that users quickly discerned how to crush the pills or blend them with water in order to obtain their high.
In August 2010, OxyContin changed its formula to be “abuse-resistant,” making it impossible to crush the pills or to mix them with water. The result, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was “an abuse-deterrent formulation successfully reduced abuse of a specific drug but also generated an unanticipated outcome: replacement of the abuse-deterrent formulation with alternative opioid medications and heroin, a drug that may pose a much greater overall risk to public health than OxyContin.”
The study was undertaken by researchers at Nova Southeastern University, led by Theodore J. Cicero, PhD, and was conducted from July 2009 to March 2012. The researchers administered surveys to over 2,500 patients who had been classified as having opioid dependence. Of those, over 100 agreed to telephone or online interviews.
While they found that the amount of people whose primary drug of abuse was OxyContin had decreased from 35.6 percent to 12.8 percent. They also found that, when they asked if they had used OxyContin to get high in the past 30 days, the number of people who agreed had fallen from 47.4 percent of participants. Meanwhile, the number of respondents who said that they had used heroin had doubled.
But not everyone is convinced by the correlation. Dr. Adam Bisaga, associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, said that he believed that the demographics of people who abused OxyContin were not the same people who abused heroin. He said that he thought that it was more likely that previous abusers of OxyContin were ingesting six pills of Vicodin to feed their high.
Regardless, Cicero is convinced that more proactive steps need to be taken to ensure that people avoid the abuse of prescription painkillers, particularly OxyContin. He believes that instead of trying to curb supply, lawmakers and drug manufacturers should be trying to curb demand – through educational campaigns that compare oxycontin to street drugs like cocaine or crack.
The majority of people who abuse prescription painkillers, Cicero said, had started when they were 14 or 15 years old.
