Oxycontin Addiction

This page was created by Bay Recovery Center to help educate individuals and families on the dangers of oxycontin addiction. If you or someone you know is seeking treatment for oxycontin addiction please call toll free 1 800 375 7263

Since its introduction in 1996, the number of OxyContin prescriptions dispensed has increased 20-fold to about 6 million in 2000. During this same time, medical examiners, drug treatment centers, law enforcement personnel, and pharmacists have reported a substantial increase in the abuse of this product.

Information received from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) indicates that instances of emergency department episodes and medical examiners reports involving oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin® , have increased significantly since 1996. Reports from 20 metropolitan areas within the continental U.S. indicate that oxycodone-related deaths and emergency department episodes have increased 400 percent and 100 percent, respectively.

Most deaths reported in the media and attributed to OxyContin® have generally occurred in areas outside the DAWN system, such as Maine, West Virginia, and rural Kentucky. DEA has been actively collecting and evaluating data from medical examiners in these areas to more clearly ascertain the extent of abuse problems.

Drug treatment programs have also provided evidence regarding an increase in OxyContin® abuse. Programs in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Virginia, the states that have been most severely affected by this trend, report that 50 to 90 percent of newly admitted patients identified OxyContin® as their primary drug of abuse.