Purdue Pharma Deal Goes To Supreme Court

The opioid crisis is now at the forefront of the Supreme Court’s attention, and justices heard arguments earlier this month regarding a challenge to the bankruptcy deal intended to compensate victims of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin.

In this case, Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, agreed to pay billions of dollars to those harmed by the opioid epidemic under a deal approved by a lower court.

The deal shields members of the Sackler family, who owned and ran the company, from personal liability. The Sacklers were known for their aggressive promotion and deceptive marketing of OxyContin.

Oxycontin’s Devastating Effects

OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller, played a significant role in fueling the addiction crisis that is still raging in the United States.

Introduced in 1996 by Purdue Pharma, OxyContin contained oxycodone, an opioid that provided relief for patients experiencing …

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Dr. Feelgood Charged with Murder in Patient Overdose Deaths

A Southern California doctor who had earned the nickname “Dr. Feelgood” for prescribing large quantities of prescription drugs has been charged with murder for the overdose deaths of three patients.  Lisa (Hsiu-Ying) Tseng was taken into custody at her office located in a Rowland Heights strip mall and led away in handcuffs.  She will be arraigned in Los Angeles County Superior Court and is being held on $3 million bail.  If convicted, Dr. Tseng could be sentenced to a state prison term of 45 years to life.

According to authorities, Tseng wrote prescriptions for narcotic painkillers including OxyContin and Vicodin and other potent drugs like Xanax and Adderall at a rate of about 25 per day for the past three years.  This amounted to more than 27,000 prescriptions.  Her patients were asked a minimum number of questions and were not …

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Overtaken – Unbelievably Powerful Documentary Now Online

This documentary is the kind of project that embodies what our website is all about.

The movie “Overtaken” is a tour de force that will shock viewers into contemplating drug use and it’s effect on society.  As we  meet charming teen after teen who discuss how drugs derailed their lives, the viewer cannot help but feel moved and outraged that not more awareness is being given to this epidemic.

We started StopOxy in 2009 to bring awareness to the OxyContin epidemic.  To see such a stirring portrayal of the effects of drug use on teens gives us hope that the message will be heard and that change is in the works.

We feel that everyone – from teens to grandparents – should see this film.  Anyone who comes in contact with an at risk teen has the chance to help …

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Doctor Sold Prescriptions at Starbucks

It was never our intention to to become a watchdog website that would use our outlet to humiliate unethical doctors criminals.

Yet recently we are reading some stories that compel us to provide as much of a “comeuppance” as we can to shady and unethical doctors like Alvin Ming-Czech Yee of Mission Viejo (medical practice was in Irvine).

This “doctor” sat in a Starbucks Coffee Shop and sold prescriptions for OxyContin –  also known as”legal heroin” (or also known as “the prescription drug that is shattering families in record numbers).”

Again, let us reiterate that Dr. Yee would perform his examinations in Starbucks. the “examinations” would last about a minute. Yee would meet up with a dozen people per night in Starbucks throughout Orange County.  The “examinations” drug deals consisted of taking blood pressure and asking patients addicts …

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Famous Rock Musician Succumbs to Opiate Addiction and Robs Pharmacy on Tour

In an almost unbelievably tragic story, the destructive grip  of OxyContin is yet again displayed as a touring rock star robs a pharmacy in a taxi to get OxyContin.

Michael Todd was scheduled to play the Comcast Center in Mansfield Massachussetts on the night of July 10th when he went into an Attleboro Walgreens and “held it up” (with a bomb threat  – displayed on his blackberry) for OxyContin.  He eventually was given oxycodone and left in a taxi getaway car.

Why Would Someone Do This?

Before you dismiss this as a laughable act of a crazy person – we would ask you to consider what kind of suffering Michael Todd might have been experiencing due to OxyContin addiction.

As part of the  powerful and artistically lauded rock band Coheed and Cambria, Michael had worked his way up through …

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“Gateway to Heroin” Documents the Link between OxyContin and Heroin

In 2009, Current TV correspondent Mariana von Zeller traveled to South Florida to report on the prescription drug pipeline that stretches from the beaches of Miami to the hills of Appalachia.  Her documentary, “The OxyContin Express,” won a Peabody Award for its depiction of the impact of Florida’s prescription drug epidemic on addicts, law enforcement officials and prisoners.  Now von Zeller has produced a new documentary called “Gateway to Heroin” that exposes how prescription opiate addicts are turning to heroin for a cheaper high.

For “Gateway to Heroin,” von Zeller focused on the situation in Massachusetts, where prescription pills have become the most popular street drugs.  Many drug dealers travel to Florida (referred to by von Zeller as the “Colombia of prescription drugs”) to obtain prescription drugs illegally, bringing them back to Massachusetts to sell on the street.  In an …

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Florida’s Oxy Express

Florida has become ground zero for the prescription drug epidemic in America.  In communities like Fort Lauderdale, once a popular tourist destination and yachting center, drug dealers have set up shop in strip mall “pain clinics.”  Instead of selling crack or heroin, these dealers are pushing powerful prescription drugs like oxycodone, a narcotic painkiller that is marketed under the names OxyContin, Roxicodone and Oxyfast.  The pain clinics, referred to as “pill mills” by law enforcement officials, make it easy for addicts to obtain powerful prescription narcotics.

National Public Radio recently reported that doctors in Florida write 10 times as many prescriptions for oxycodone as all the other U.S. states combined.

Florida pain clinics operated by disreputable physicians attract people from all along the eastern seaboard.  A typical visit to one of these clinics consists of a quick exam and a …

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Billboard of the Day

Someday, it will all just be a memory.

This billboard speaks for itself and the messag it carries is being echoed far and wide.  OxyContin (and other prescription medications) are addictive and deadly. It is through grass roots actions like this that the hearts and minds of Americans are being won over and the perception of OxyContin is changing to reflect more accurately how addictive and deadly the drug is.

The tide is turning as new actions develop. Some examples:

– CVS Announces it is blacklisting inordinate prescribers of narcotic painkillers (in Florida)

– Doctors in Florida are facing  increasing punishment for unethical prescribing behavior

– There is a powerful “grass roots” movement to raise awareness about OxyContin

– Pharmaceutical Executives are being punished for irresponsibly unleashing this drug on the populace

– Shocking (and often deadly) pharmacy robberies are …

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Pharmacies are the New Battleground as Thieves Seek OxyContin

“We Do Not Stock OxyContin” — signs like this are showing up in the windows of more and more pharmacies as robbers seeking the highly addictive painkiller become more brazen.  The New York Times recently reported on a pharmacist in Maine who stopped filling prescriptions for OxyContin

following a robbery by two men wearing ski masks and wielding knives.  The robbers were seeking only one thing —  OxyContin.  Rather than hiring a security guard, pharmacist Chet Hibbard decided to stop dispensing the drug and to post signs letting potential thieves know that they wouldn’t find OxyContin in his store.

Since its introduction in 1996, OxyContin has become the best-selling narcotic pain medication in the U.S.  Its time-release formula has allowed many people who suffer from chronic pain to live more active lives.  Unfortunately, OxyContin has also become one of the …

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Ontario Canada – Florida’s Replacement (for Oxy Addicts)

In Ontario Canada, researchers found that physicians are over-prescribing narcotic pain killers. Ontario drug researchers are linking this six year investigation to the reason for an increase addiction and deaths caused by prescription drugs in their region. Efforts are in the works trying to curb addiction and monitor those that are being prescribed the narcotics.

Will Ontario become a smuggler’s paradise? Will it feed the lower 48 states with Oxy and other drugs once Florida gets its act together and handles the prescription drug epidemic there?

The province’s public drug plan for Canadians in Ontario covers prescription narcotic pain killers. Research done by Ontario Drug Policy Research Network discovered that the plan was exceeding the amount of doses set out in Canadian clinical guidelines. Tara Gomes who is the project leader and epidemiologist for the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, …

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