About OxyContin

The Olympian • Published January 18, 2009

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OxyContin is a pain medication that belongs to the opioid family, which includes Dilaudid, Vicodin, Percocet, methadone and morphine. OxyContin, manufactured by Purdue Pharma, is distinctive for its patented "time release" of oxycodone - the active opioid in OxyContin. It is meant to alleviate pain by releasing oxycodone gradually.

• Abuse and addiction: Samantha Studebaker said she and others who abuse the drug can easily defeat OxyContin's timed-release coating by crushing the pills and snorting or smoking them for a quicker high. OxyContin, like most opioids, is addictive, meaning that users develop a physical tolerance and can suffer from withdrawal symptoms if use of the drug is stopped abruptly. At the height of Studebaker's addiction, she said, she was taking up to eight or nine 80 milligram OxyContin pills a day.

• Effects: According to the Drug Enforcement Administration's Web site, the basic pharmacological effects of OxyContin are relief from pain, "sedation, euphoria, feelings of relaxation, respiratory depression, constipation, papillary constriction, and cough suppression." Studebaker described OxyContin's effects as giving her a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, "like nothing can rain on your parade."

• Danger: Respiratory depression can be fatal when the drug is abused, according to the DEA. Since 2005, 116 people have died from drug overdoses in Thurston County, Coroner Gary Warnock said. The number of deaths from drug overdoses each year has remained relatively steady during that time, with 29 in 2005; 27 in 2006; 33 in 2007; and 27 in 2008.

Warnock said that in 2008 alone, there were several overdose deaths that were caused by "drug cocktails" of prescription drugs, including OxyContin, and other drugs.

Ann Lima of the state Department of Health's center for health statistics has said that in 2004, 267 Washington residents died from prescription opioids, the latest data available. That was up from 23 in 1995.

Ron Friedman is an assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle who last year prosecuted a burglary ring of 30 people who were breaking into pharmacies across the Northwest and California to steal OxyContin and other prescription drugs. Friedman said the abuse of OxyContin and other opioids can be fatal, unlike the abuse of some other drugs. "These prescription drugs are really dangerous," he said.

• Who is given OxyContin: The drug is commonly prescribed for cancer patients and others who suffer chronic, long-term pain. It also is prescribed to people who have pain during recovery from surgery — including dental surgery.

• History: In 2007, the pharmaceutical company that patented OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the drug's risk of addiction. Purdue Pharma's president, top lawyer and former chief medical officer were ordered to pay $634.5 million in fines for claiming that the drug was less addictive and that users were less likely to abuse OxyContin than other pain medications. Purdue Pharma also agreed to pay $19.5 million to 26 states and Washington, D.C., to settle complaints that it encouraged physicians to overprescribe OxyContin.