I just wanted to post a shout out to the Cape Cod Times which published an article with the most accurate title that describes the relationship between OxyContin and heroin I have ever read.
OxyContin: ‘A Rocket Ship to Heroin’
Click above to read the article. Some highlights:
OxyContin has become so widely abused that the addiction rate for the drug in Massachusetts increased by 950 percent over the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“OxyContin is not just a gateway to heroin, it’s a rocket ship to heroin,” Tolman said.
More people have also been dying from overdosing on heroin and OxyContin. Between 2002 and 2007, 3,265 people in Massachusetts died of opiate-related overdoses, officials said. By comparison, Massachusetts lost 78 soldiers in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq during that time.
“We need to consider opiate medications to be poison,” Capeless said. “It has legitimate uses, but it is still poison.”