Skip to main content

Prescription Painkillers Overwhelming Oklahoma


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.

Popular posts from this blog

New Oxycodone Formula Gets Backing of FDA

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."

Utah Debates Drug Testing for Public Assistance

Utah has begun to follow the path that so many other states have traveled earlier this year. The path leads to drug testing for public assistance. Utah Senator Dennis Stowell had asked that the issue be studied carefully and Rep. Christopher Herrod said "If someone's on drugs, we shouldn't be giving them money," he said. "There's nowhere in the Constitution that says, 'You have a right to get welfare." At the center of the debate is cost and legality. An analyst for Community Action Partnership of Utah stated that "The cost to test all Utah’s families that receive 'Temporary Assistance for Needy Families' would be high." The analyst added, "That testing all welfare recipients just once would cost about $255,000 and a lawsuit against the state would likely cost more than $1 million." Further discussion and analysis is planned in the upcoming months to decide whether to study the issue further, table the issue or wait un...

CHEATERS DON'T WIN! NC Man's Tricks Backfire During Drug Test

Jeffrey Selph has found himself in the jailhouse for trying to cheat and beat his drug test. Selph was caught by his probation officer with a "yellow like tube with urine" in his possession right before his test. Selph was booked on a charge of defraud drug/alcohol screening tests under a $3,000 bond. Other Drug Test Cheating Stories on MMC's Drug Free Blog... U.S. Airways Express Pilot Doubled As Drug Testing Cheat Entrepreneur Pittsburgh Court Sentences Maker of "Whizzinator" Drug Testing Cheat Device If You Are Going to Cheat On Your Drug Test... Be Prepared to Face The Consequences! Lawrence Taylor's Drug Riddled Past Re-Examined by New Charges Synthetic Human Urine Employed To Pass Drug Tests Illinois Man Caught Cheating on Urine Drug Test Mobile Medical Corporation ( MMC ), a Pittsburgh Drug Testing firm continually monitors the news outlets for incidents of drug test cheating in order to provide further information on the topic. Mobile Medical Corp...