OxyContin

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Fatal Drug ODs Rise 11th Straight Year

Prescription medications at core of problem

(Newser) - Fatal drug overdoses rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to their risks. "The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head...

Forget OxyContin: Opana Now Most-Abused Painkiller

But new formula will cause addicts to seek another drug

(Newser) - The powerful painkiller Opana has replaced OxyContin as the drug of choice for addicts and pharmacy robbers. Users switched to Opana—the trade name for oxymorphone—after OxyContin's maker reformulated its pills to make them harder to snort, chew, or inject for a quick high. But Opana's makers...

Welcome to 'Ground Zero' for America's Pill Poppers

Kermit, West Virginia, home to die-hard addicts

(Newser) - A tiny coal-mining town of barely 300 people and no supermarket is home to one booming business: pharmacies. In Kermit, West Virginia, two Sav-Rites alone moved 3.2 million doses of hydrocodone in 2006—a tad more than the 97,000 doses the average pharmacy sells in a year, reports...

Painkiller Sales Exploding in New Parts of US

Pharmacies sold equivalent of 69 tons of pure oxycodone in 2010

(Newser) - Prescription painkiller addiction is a problem that's only getting uglier, reports the AP after analyzing a slew of DEA and pharmaceutical figures. The report focuses on sales of America's leading two prescription painkillers: oxycodone (the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet, and Percodan) and hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco, and Lortab)....

Drug Deaths Soar Past Traffic Fatalities

 Drug Deaths Soar 
 Past Traffic Fatalities 
Dubious Firsts
Sep 18, 2011 6:07 AM CDT

Drug Deaths Soar Past Traffic Fatalities

Blame prescription drugs for drug-related deaths doubling over decade

(Newser) - For the first time since the government started tracking drug-related deaths in 1979, narcotics have topped traffic fatalities—37,485 for drugs vs. 36,284 for accidents in 2009 (the most recent year available), reports the LA Times . But the big culprit isn't street drugs: it's prescription pills...

Rocker Busted for Walgreens Robbery...

Right before his band opened for Soundgarden

(Newser) - Coheed and Cambria was about to open for Soundgarden, but it looks like bassist Mike Todd had things other than soundcheck on his mind. He allegedly robbed a Massachusetts pharmacy just hours before yesterday's performance. Police say Todd entered a Walgreens around 1pm, told an employee he had a...

New OxyContin Formula Foils Drug Abusers

...Who then just switch to similar narcotics, police say

(Newser) - OxyContin abuse is becoming a thing of the past—sort of. Ever since Purdue Pharma reformulated its hit narcotic pills to make them harder to snort, chew, or inject, addicts have been looking elsewhere for their high, the New York Times reports. “It’s too much work,” says...

Ohio County Drowning in Waves of Oxy

Overdoses now leading cause of accidental death in Scioto County

(Newser) - Scioto County sits in the southern tip of Ohio, an unremarkable piece of Appalachia save for the deadly tidal wave of prescription drugs washing over its population. Overdoses have quadrupled over the past decade, reports the New York Times, and are now the leading cause of accidental death, ahead of...

1 Million Oxycodone Prescriptions Filled in New York City, Which Has 8 Million People
 8M New Yorkers, 
 1M Oxycodone Prescriptions 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 20, 2011 6:23 AM CDT

8M New Yorkers, 1M Oxycodone Prescriptions

Staten Island leads the way

(Newser) - New York City's special narcotics prosecutor unveiled some eye-popping numbers about prescription drugs in the Big Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal :
  • One million prescriptions for the pain reliever oxycodone—the generic name for Oxycontin—were filled in 2010. That's enough for 1 in 8 residents of the five
...

NYC Busts Drug-Dealing Ice Cream Truck

Oxycodone sellers licked

(Newser) - In New York City's Staten Island, oxycodone addicts were more enthusiastic than little kids about the arrival of the Lickety Split ice cream truck: Some 31 people have been indicted for running a drug ring that investigators say used the ice cream truck to sell the addictive prescription painkiller—and...

Gun-Toting Fed Judge Busted in Stripper Drug Buy

FBI: Georgia jurist planned to share cocaine, pot with exotic dancer

(Newser) - A Georgia federal judge is facing drugs and weapons charges in a case as bizarre as anything he's likely to have heard on the bench. Veteran judge Jack Camp, 67, was busted on charges of possessing cocaine, marijuana, and prescription painkillers after buying the drugs from an undercover agent, according...

Tito Ortiz, Jenna Jameson Take it Back | TMZ.com
 Jenna Jameson, 
 Tito Ortiz Take It All Back 
no abuse, no oxycontin
Apr 30, 2010 10:55 AM CDT

Jenna Jameson, Tito Ortiz Take It All Back

Ortiz could have lost $15M if prosecuted

(Newser) - Remember Jenna Jameson's accusation that Tito Ortiz hurt her and his counterclaim that she’s addicted to OxyContin? Never mind! Both are withdrawing their allegations, TMZ reports. Jameson says the alleged abuse incident was “misinterpreted”; Ortiz says he jumped to conclusions when he found two (probably old!) pills;...

Jenna Jameson's Boyfriend Busted for Domestic Assault

UFC champ Tito Ortiz blames incident on her Oxycontin addiction

(Newser) - Jenna Jameson's boyfriend has been arrested and slapped with a restraining order for allegedly beating up the porn queen. Ultimate Fighting Championship star Tito Ortiz was taken in handcuffs from the home the two share and charged with felony domestic violence, the New York Daily News reports.

Big Brother Winner Nabbed for Peddling Oxy

Jasinski says he used $500K prize to buy, sell painkillers

(Newser) - Big Brother 9 winner Adam Jasinski made his first court appearance today in Massachusetts after being charged with trying to sell 2,000 prescription painkiller pills. After a brief struggle with agents, the DEA says Jasinski waived his Miranda rights and confessed to using his $500,000 winnings from the...

DJ AM Buried in Los Angeles
 DJ AM Buried in Los Angeles 
Sep 2, 2009 9:12 PM CDT

DJ AM Buried in Los Angeles

(Newser) - Friends and celebrity mourners including Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker attended a funeral for DJ AM today in Los Angeles, Us Weekly reports. The disc jockey, also known as Adam Goldstein, died last week at age 36, of an apparent drug overdose. The ceremony at Hillside Memorial Park, the area’s...

DJ AM Gobbled 9 OxyContin Before Death: Source

Law enforcement source says Valentine's card from Hayley Wood found on table

(Newser) - DJ AM was found dead with eight OxyContin pills in his stomach and another in his mouth, supporting the theory that he committed suicide, a law enforcement source tells People. He wanted to die," the source said. "He was going unconscious when he took the last one. He...

Levi's Mom Pleads, Will Likely Get 3 Years

Takes a plea deal in exchange for shorter sentence

(Newser) - Sherry Johnston, the woman the world has to thank for the existence of Levi Johnston, is headed off to the pokey after taking a plea deal yesterday in her OxyContin-dealing case that will likely land her behind bars for three years, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Johnston pleaded guilty to...

Jackson Doc Not Licensed to Prescribe Meds in Calif.

(Newser) - Michael Jackson's personal doctor lacks a license to prescribe controlled medicines in California, federal authorities tell Fox News. Conrad Murray didn't register with the DEA in the singer's home state, officials say, meaning it would have been illegal for him to prescribe or administer Demerol, OxyContin, or even strong cough...

Jackson Doc Stonewalls on Dangerous Surgery Drug

(Newser) - The doctor with Michael Jackson the night he died is stonewalling questions about whether he provided the singer with the dangerous anesthesia Propofol, reports TMZ. The attorney for Dr. Conrad Murray has denied that the physician gave Jackson OxyContin or Demerol. But as for the Porpofol found in Jackson's home,...

Levi's Mom Admits Pill Addiction: 'I'm Still in Pain'

Sherry Johnston, grandmother to Bristol Palin's newborn son, spills on OxyContin

(Newser) - Sarah Palin’s fellow grandmother says she’s getting a bad rap in the press over her recent drug arrest. Sherry Johnston—mother of Levi, who recently fathered a son with Bristol Palin—tells People she has been addicted to OxyContin since a hysterectomy 8 years ago. “I was...

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