Friday, October 03, 2008
An Unhidden Epidemic
A legal drug epidemic right in front of us?
By the Clarion’s accounting since the late seventies/early eighties there have been three distinct, dominant drug eras in America. There was coke, there was crack, there was meth. Each one of these drugs reached penetration levels whether judged strictly by consumption, or more broadly by media frenzy and Q rating, that led them to be treated as epidemics by government and society. As perceived, and perhaps actual, epidemics, these three drug eras were not necessarily handled in the most sensitive or appropriate manner, but there was an underlying recognition and agreement about the scale of the affliction. The societal and governmental response was tempered in size and method by the grandiose verbiage of epidemic, setting aside the effectiveness of said responses.
A study released by the Associated Press this week of figures compiled from Drug Enforcement Agency reports shows a 90% increase in sales of prescription painkillers in America between 1997 and 2005. More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine were purchased. Oxycodone, the chemical used in OxyContin, the most popular of all these prescription painkilles, saw drug consumption increase 600% during that same 8 year period.
The Clarion is just absorbing this information. We have a lot more questions at this point than answers. Is this a new, fourth, dominant drug era? Will the response be couched in terms of fighting an epidemic by the media and law enforcement, and hence by society and government? Is this already happening?
Does the concept that most of this OxyContin, and these other painkillers were sold legally at the pharmacy with prescriptions from American doctors, unlike coke, crack and meth, change the nature of the response? (Of course, this was likely true only the first time the product was sold.) Is it a suburban drug wave? Are they rural drugs? Both? The Associated Press study finds 9 of the 10 areas with the highest per-capita sales of hydrocodone (sold mostly as Vicodin) are in mostly rural parts of West Virginia, Kentucky or Tennessee. How does this relate to consumption? Dealing? How will the vigorously anti-drug portion of the American right handle the demonization of a drug epidemic that can't be easily blamed on Columbians, Mexicans, Blacks or Hippies? Most of these drugs were developed as long ago as 1916, why are they taking off now? What does it say about America that it’s most popular drugs are designed to inure it’s citizens to pain? Will the government change the classification of these drugs (currently less restricted Schedule II) to make them harder to get?
By the Clarion’s accounting since the late seventies/early eighties there have been three distinct, dominant drug eras in America. There was coke, there was crack, there was meth. Each one of these drugs reached penetration levels whether judged strictly by consumption, or more broadly by media frenzy and Q rating, that led them to be treated as epidemics by government and society. As perceived, and perhaps actual, epidemics, these three drug eras were not necessarily handled in the most sensitive or appropriate manner, but there was an underlying recognition and agreement about the scale of the affliction. The societal and governmental response was tempered in size and method by the grandiose verbiage of epidemic, setting aside the effectiveness of said responses.
A study released by the Associated Press this week of figures compiled from Drug Enforcement Agency reports shows a 90% increase in sales of prescription painkillers in America between 1997 and 2005. More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine were purchased. Oxycodone, the chemical used in OxyContin, the most popular of all these prescription painkilles, saw drug consumption increase 600% during that same 8 year period.
The Clarion is just absorbing this information. We have a lot more questions at this point than answers. Is this a new, fourth, dominant drug era? Will the response be couched in terms of fighting an epidemic by the media and law enforcement, and hence by society and government? Is this already happening?
Does the concept that most of this OxyContin, and these other painkillers were sold legally at the pharmacy with prescriptions from American doctors, unlike coke, crack and meth, change the nature of the response? (Of course, this was likely true only the first time the product was sold.) Is it a suburban drug wave? Are they rural drugs? Both? The Associated Press study finds 9 of the 10 areas with the highest per-capita sales of hydrocodone (sold mostly as Vicodin) are in mostly rural parts of West Virginia, Kentucky or Tennessee. How does this relate to consumption? Dealing? How will the vigorously anti-drug portion of the American right handle the demonization of a drug epidemic that can't be easily blamed on Columbians, Mexicans, Blacks or Hippies? Most of these drugs were developed as long ago as 1916, why are they taking off now? What does it say about America that it’s most popular drugs are designed to inure it’s citizens to pain? Will the government change the classification of these drugs (currently less restricted Schedule II) to make them harder to get?
Labels: Pop Culture, science
Comments:
Pharmaceutical companies are already developing abuse deterrent generic formulations of many drugs. It is a problem that extends beyond just those abusing but also to patients that need the drugs for legitimate medical purposes but are denied access by doctors who worry about the liability of prescribing drugs that can be abused and taken recreationally. Check out Acura Pharmaceuticals. They are developing a generic form of oxycodone with a triple abuse deterrent technology. They plan to submit a NDA to the FDA later this year and begin marketing their first compound in 2009.
# posted by 
: 10/16/2008 11:22 AM
: 10/16/2008 11:22 AM
Anon- Thanks for the heads up. Glad to hear that, "oxycodone with abuse deterrent technology" is in the works.
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