On May 5, Steve Hayes, Larry Golbom, Pete Jackson and a number of our fellow members of Advocates For Prescription Opioid Drug Reform ("APODR") will return to Rockville, Maryland for the second time. The FDA has invited us to another "invitation only" meeting for the next discussion of the appropriate Risk Evaluation Mitigation Study ("REMS") requirements for dangerous narcotics opioids like OxyContin. As we explained in our February 16, 2009 newsletter, the FDA has had the opportunity to restrict the availability of these dangerous narcotics since 2007.
The most abused prescription narcotic in the US today is OxyContin. It is manufactured and distributed by Purdue Pharma. All of us who have seen the suffering caused by OxyContin addiction or dependency or who work to repair the ravaged lives created by OxyContin were excited when we read that Purdue Pharma and Michael Friedman, the president and CEO, Howard Udell, the company's general counsel, and Paul Goldenheim, the company's former medical director,all pled guilty to felony criminal charges in 2007. The company and its executives admitted that they had lied about the addictive qualities of OxyContin, their narcotic drug.
You see, these lies were more serious than someone saying that their vitamin works better than other vitamins when they have no evidence. Or saying that their drain cleaner works better than other drain cleaners when they know that it is not true. A manufacturer's false statements can subject the manufacturer and even their officers to civil and criminal prosecution. We have seen this with many companies. We know that our government doesn't tolerate false vitamin or drain cleaner claims. Yet, our government seems to have a different set of rules if the corporate manufacturer is a dangerous drug dealer and has lots of money.
You see, Purdue's lies didn't cause a person to take more of a vitamin or to call a plumber. Oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin, is molecularly almost identical to heroin and works in the body the same way as heroin. While heroin was once a medicine in the United States, it was banned in 1914 because of its addictive qualities, and now its purchase and use is illegal and the jails and morgues are full of people who used heroin.
People who cannot get heroin from a dealer can substitute OxyContin and get the same high. The difference is that OxyContin, legal heroin, is legal. Although a highly controlled Schedule II drug, OxyContin can be purchased from a corner drug store if you have a prescription from a medical doctor.
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