OXYCONTIN KILLS
CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Mon. Jan. 10 2005 3:53 PM ET
Life was good for Kyle Blythe. He had a steady job at the Ford plant in his hometown of London, Ont. He had a wife, a house and plenty of time for sports. Then one day, he jammed his golf club into the ground and developed painful tendonitis in his wrist.
"It was very sore. I couldn't do the normal things I was doing in my life."
Blythe went to see a specialist and after trying cortisone shots, splints and physiotherapy, his doctor put him on a prescription painkiller called OxyContin -- the newest and most popular brand in a group of drugs that contain the ingredient oxycodone, an analgesic as potent as morphine. OxyContin is a trade name for the drug oxycodone hydrochloride.
The drug brought relief. "I could work without pain. I could golf without pain. I could play hockey without pain. I could live my own life, and I thought it was great," he said. "I thought it was a miracle drug."
Fast-forward a few weeks: Blythe went from taking five mg. of OxyContin a day to manage his pain to 20 mg. in approximately one week. Before he knew it he had progressed to 60 mg. and then 80 mg. Blythe says his doctor continued to write prescriptions for more pills without ever telling him he could become addicted.
Like all narcotics, OxyContin comes with a warning that it can be "habit-forming," but like many patients in pain, Blythe didn't pay much attention. He wanted relief and fast. OxyContin stopped Blythe's pain, but he quickly built up a tolerance to the drug and before he knew it he was hooked.
Eventually, Blythe ran out of his prescription and had to wait a week for his next appointment with the doctor. "Three days after not having them [the drugs] I was laying on my couch with my legs curled up to my chin, in tears because the pain was so immense. I couldn't move."
Blythe was going through withdrawal and that pain eventually drove him to the street to feed his habit. Getting OxyContin on the streets is "far easier than it should be" according to Blythe, who is now broke after he says he spent close to $100,000 getting OxyContin illegally.
Manufacturer Purdue Pharma L.P. first introduced OxyContin in 1995 to help cancer patients, but soon the painkiller was being recommended for moderate to severe pain. Sales took off, with an estimated $1.6 billion in worldwide revenues in 2003.
Now, Purdue is facing almost 400 lawsuits in the United States over its wonder drug, and has been criticized by both the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for aggressive marketing tactics that encourage physicians to prescribe OxyContin.
In the late 1990s Ontario's Chief Coroner, Dr. Barry McLellan, started to notice more and more people had died from prescription drug overdoses and asked forensic scientists to go back and review the death files for the past five years. They found that between 1999 and 2003 there had been between a four- and five-fold increase in deaths where oxycodone has been detected in the blood of the deceased.
Dr. McLellan is worried about the continuing trend. In 2003, 101 Ontarians died with oxycodone in their systems -- 10 times more than a decade ago. Toxicologists can only test for the ingredient oxycodone, not the brand, but according to Dr. McLellan the increase in the number of cases has occurred around the same time that OxyContin came on the market. There are many more prescriptions now for OxyContin than when it was originally introduced in 1996. "For one to draw an association between the two would not be illogical," said McLellan.
Purdue Pharma spokesman John Stewart admits the findings are alarming, but he notes that many of the individuals had other licit or illegal drugs in their bloodstream at the same time. And, he insists it's the people who abuse the drug who get into trouble, stating that OxyContin is no more or less dangerous that any of the other prescription opiates that are currently on the market.
However, Dr. McLellan insists while some of the people who died were drug abusers, many of them were prescribed oxycodone and died either as a result of accident or suicide. And, he said, he's not seeing this kind of trend with other painkillers like codeine or morphine. "We want to get the message out to the medical community and the public that there is a risk associated with these medications. Especially if we look at the illicit side; this can be a very dangerous drug."
Dr. McLellan's counterparts in Atlantic Canada have already found that out. OxyContin abuse has become a deadly social problem. In 2003, Newfoundland set up a task force to tackle it, and although Purdue stands by its pill, the drug company has given that province more than $200,000 to fight addiction and illegal diversion of its pills. Health Canada says it is monitoring the situation but has no plans to restrict the drug.
In 2003, pharmacists dispensed 2.8 million prescriptions for oxycodone drugs in Canada, most of them in Ontario. That's the equivalent of two tablets for every man, woman and child in the province. The most popular brand is OxyContin.
"I think what's being lost in this is the great therapeutic benefit � for patients who receive great relief from their pain, improved qualify of life and don't in any way abuse that drug," said Stewart.
Many patients would agree. Certainly, the majority of patients who take prescription painkillers do not become addicted.
Tanya Krivel suffers from crippling rheumatoid arthritis, one of the complications of a chronic digestive disorder. She depends on narcotic painkillers, including OxyContin, but says she is careful about her doses. She believes there are potential dangers with a time-released opiate such as OxyContin.
"With a time-release formula you have to take such a large dose that by the time you break the back on that pain, in a sense you're left with so much time release in your system you can't avoid the euphoric effects," she said.
"I think if it's prescribed inappropriately to people whose bodies aren't going to be using it all for pain they're going to have euphoric effects � and then as the drug is leaving your system you get a depression associated with it. Well, to me that's a cycle that's just asking for addiction, in a sense."
OxyContin has given Tanya a life. But Kyle Blythe, 30, says it destroyed his. After trying rehab several times, he is back home living with his parents, and has enrolled in a legal methadone treatment program to wean himself off of oxycodone. It's a shock for a young man who grew up active, playing sports, never taking illicit drugs like marijuana.
"I am a changed person now forever and I do not like who I've become," said Blythe.
CTV.ca News Staf
OXYCONTIN KILLS
In Memory Of "MY SON MY HEART"
The DOCTORS distributing OXYCONTIN and PURDUE PHARMA are only interested in the MONEY BEING PLACED IN their HANDS! Soaked in TEARS & BLOOD are your hands!
EMAIL: linda@oxycontinkills.info
STOP! STOP! STOP!
OXYCONTIN ADDICTIONS
Chad Gregory Gardiner MY SON took his own life just 2 weeks after his 26th birthday in May 28th 2004 the photo above was on mothers day just 2 weeks prior to his death due to an addiction to Oxycontin prescribed by our trusted family doctor in amounts of over 500mgs a day.... Desparate, Tormented & crying out for help he was turned away with another prescription and told he was going to suffer through this...WELL HE DID! CHAD jumped to his death downtown London, Ontario...
CHAD did not die an easy death, he was suffering for a long time, he was tormented by the addiction and begged for help.
When he jumped to his death in downtown London, he was held by an angel where he fell in front of her car.
She held him as he suffered and died. PURDUE PHARMA has Killed my son!
OXYCONTIN KILLS
SOLUTION! GET PURDUE OUT OF CANADA AND STOP the lining of POCKETS!
OPEN YOUR EYES!
OXYCONTIN KILLS
OXYCONTIN KILLS
O
X
Y
C
O
N
T
I
N
K
I
L
L
S
