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The OxyContin Epidemic

By Michael Scherer | @michaelscherer | October 15, 2009 | +

Take the time to watch this documentary by Mariana van Zeller and Current TV about the prescription pain pill epidemic in South Florida. A fantastic piece of journalism.

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  • destor23

    What, another Limbaugh story?

  • Ivy_B

    Michael I didn’t have time to watch the whole thing, but the first ten minutes are powerful.

  • dumdedumdum

    wow. Florida, America’s own little narcotics Canada.

  • ohiolib

    And now, when Rush relapses, it will all be the fault of the liberal media for telling him that there are pills to be had.

  • pafro

    I eagerly await their documentary on conservative pundits from Florida who take a bunch of Viagra that was prescribed to someone else with them to a foreign country notorious for its sex tourism.

  • slowp

    Is this really and epidemic or is it merely a case of Limbaugh’s massive purchases inflating the demand?

  • sisword

    I only watched the opening – will watch the rest when I have time – but the opening did not convince me that this “fantastic piece of journalism” includes a balanced view of oxycontin as a truly lifesaving medication for people suffering from chronic pain. Its sad that some people abuse drugs – but they do. Always have, always will. Sensational statements like “oxycontin is basically heroin” are generally used by prosecutors hounding doctors out of business for trying to treat their patients, not by producers of balanced journalism. Read John Tierney on the subject.

  • sacredh

    My wife’s back in is bad shape and she suffers from chronic pain. She was put on oxys for a few months. I hurt my knee on a Friday night a few years ago and couldn’t get hold of my doctor. I thought I had torn ligaments. She gave me one and I puked my guts out. I’m a big guy with a tolerance for meds. That stuff is bad news. For people that really need it, they have my sympathy. I can’t imagine taking them for fun. She couldn’t wait to get off of them.

  • sisword

    Okay, I watched enough of the video to know that Florida has some work to do in regulating prescription drugs. (Couldn’t watch the whole video, got tired of seeing addict boy light up over and over. Get him to rehab already.) But I’m sorry you’re giving this video such prominence – it is not relevant nationally, and just contributes to the general smear against chronic pain patients (implying they’re all addicts) and pain doctors (implying they’re all in it for the money). Most are not, and they don’t deserve the pile-on, it just keeps the misconceptions going. Read Tierney, he lays out the consequences of these misconceptions pretty well.

  • luckystar220

    This video isn’t about the dangers of a certain drug. If you did spend the time watching the whole video it show that the addict has been to rehab (multiple times).
    —
    What this video does show is that lax regulation and abuse of a substance. What it does show is the horrors in which people live out due to it. I don’t understand your reasoning to be to cruel and uncaring to these people that are dieing and suffering because of it.
    —
    Also if you did watch the video it specifically says that the “Pain Clinics” are not run by docs and accept no insurance and only cash. If that in your mind are the doctors being “hounded down” for providing their patient medication they need then you really need to see a new doctor.
    —
    This is not “Balanced” journalism but you know what I could care less if it isn’t. What this is a muckraking piece and if you have a problem with that type of journalism then I feel sorry for you.

  • michaelfury

    Remember this even more “fantastic piece of journalism”?

    http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/coke-or-pepsi/

    “If we had met five years ago, you wouldn’t have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me…I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests…

    “And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I’d enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn’t been, as I’d assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job…The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn’t written anything important enough to suppress.”

    - Gary Webb

  • georgiac

    My daughter was addicted to this drug; it consumed three years of her life and took great fortitude–and a boatload of money–to bring her back. It’s no joke, Rush notwithstanding.

  • http://identi.ca/notice/12196326 Roy (radicalchristian) ‘s status on Friday, 16-Oct-09 15:50:23 UTC – Identi.ca
  • activistmom

    Phenomenal piece of journalism. Too bad many of these commentators didnt actually watch it.

    Ms van Zeller did an amazingly thorough job of researching the story, and presented the truth calmly and carefully. The pain of addiction and the lengths people will go to to support their habits, the risks they run of incarceration, losing their kids and even death. Powerful. Scary.

    So I guess my next question is: Since they are obviously leading to enormous abuse, who is keeping these laws from being IMMEDIATELY changed in Florida? Is it the pharmaceutical industry? The so-called ‘doctors’?

    Next: What are we going to do about all the addicts that have been created? And dont they realize what will happen if they DO stop the supply with so many addicts out there?

    And even the law they enacted–which doesn’t sound strong enough to stop the trade– doesn’t go through till the end of 2010, so how can we actually STOP this abuse and trafficking?

    Glad I watched it. Thank you for sharing.

  • http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/03/09/florida-senate-race-gets-hairy-wait-a-minute-stop-a-back-wax/ Florida Senate Race Gets Hairy: “Wait A Minute. Stop. A Back Wax?” – Swampland – TIME.com

    [...] March 9, 2010 at 10:37 am Submit a Comment Ah, Florida. Land of Disney dreams, Miami Vice, easy Oxycontin, and now, the Back Wax [...]

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