According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the State of Oklahoma
needs an intervention fast! The Oklahoma
Bureau of Narcotics Director Darrell Weaver said, "The state ranks the
highest in the nation for nonmedical use of painkillers, and is among the top states
for drug overdose death rates and amount of prescription painkillers sold per
10,000 people." The number of
drug-related deaths in Oklahoma
climbed from 344 in 2001 to a decade later.
Officials say 80 percent of those deaths are from prescription drugs.
A prescription painkiller that is at the forefront of the prescription
drug war is OxyContin. OxyContin is a
narcotic drug that was approved by FDA for the treatment of moderate to severe
pain. OxyContin contains Oxycodone HCl, an opioid agonist with an addiction
potential similar to that of morphine. The pharmacological effects of
OxyContin, a brand name formulation of the Schedule II narcotic Oxycodone, make
it attractive to abusers as it offers reliable strength and dosage levels and
may, in some instances, be covered by the abuser's health insurance. Abusers
have discovered that the controlled release formula of OxyContin can be easily
compromised allowing inhalation or injection for a powerful, morphine-like
high.
Contact Pittsburgh Drug testing firm - Mobile MedicalCorporation (MMC) - today for more information about OxyContin drug testing and
other workplace substance abuse testing services.