Cigarette smoking among adults has risen to almost 21%, the highest rate in 15 years. Vince Willmore a spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids stated that, “Clearly, we’ve hit a wall in reducing adult smoking." Health officials believe the increase is due to cuts in tobacco control campaigns and gains by big tobacco to circumnavigate anti-smoking advertisements. Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association said "Cigarette marketing has persisted and is effectively reaching children and minorities with messages about flavored or menthol products." Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC's director is more positive as he said, "In general, when people have less money, they smoke less." Whether it is from the recession or increased taxes only time will tell. Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and illness in the United States and is a cause of cancers, heart disease, and other conditions.
The FDA recently voted in favor of pushing a new formulation of oxycodone hydrochloride for approval. The new OxyContin formula is more difficult to crush or dissolve which will hopefully make it harder to be used as a drug of abuse . The FDA recommended that Purdue Pharma's application for a new, resin-coated formulation should replace the original version, which has been on the market since 1996. Randall Flick, MD, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic who voted to recommend approval of the drug said, "Clearly the old formulation is worse than the new, although I think the difference is relatively small," Flick concluded, "Hardcore abusers are likely to devise new ways to break down the harder tablet or figure out which solvents will dissolve it fastest, within 'day or weeks' of the product's release on the market."