Florida's Broward County has a vast amount of "pain management" clinics which are nothing more than legal drug dealing. These clinics they dispense prescriptions for cash. Where addicts travel from all over the country to legally buy Oxycontin and other narcotics in pill form.
Roughly three-and-a-half months after OyxContin's auspicious debut -- some cases involving the illegal use of the drug surfaced in rural Maine. Soon after, the drug's popularity began to rise in rural Appalachia, especially parts of western Virginia, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and southern Ohio (in and around Cincinnati). If claims of epidemic levels of abuse are true anywhere, it's here, says Ashland, KY pain specialist, Dr. Shelley Freimark. "In this area right now it is a severe problem," she states.
OxyContin was an instant hit with doctors when first introduced in December 1995. Hailed by pain management specialists as a wonder drug, the oxycodone-based formulation was considered a major advance in the medical profession's expanding effort to battle the debilitating effects of chronic pain. As the good news spread sales of the drug mushroomed, rising from $40 million in 1996 to more than $1 billion last year, outstripping even Viagra.
No comments:
Post a Comment