![]() Here, the proliferation of opioids encouraged abuse and the pills came to be known as “hillbilly heroin”.Įven taken exactly as prescribed, they were addictive, blocking pain (without treating its cause) and reducing stress. One of the key regions of the US affected early in the crisis was central Appalachia, an area covering much of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky known for small towns, rolling hills and physically taxing industries, including coalmining, agriculture and lumber production. In a landmark case, the company was fined more than $600m in 2007 for misleading the public, but it was making billions – at the time the only company making this kind of money from high-strength opioids.īy 2002 prescription opioids were killing 5,000 people a year in America and that number tripled over the following decade. The document also asserted that Purdue had played down the risks of addiction. A bulletin from the American Public Health Association in 2009, reviewing the rise of prescription opioids, is titled “The promotion and marketing of Ox圜ontin: commercial triumph, public health tragedy”. Prescriptions issued for Ox圜ontin in the US increased tenfold over those six years, from 670,000 a year to more than six million. OXYTOCIN ANTIDOTE FREEPhotograph: Bastiaan Slabbers/The Guardianįrom 1996 to 2002, Purdue more than doubled its sales force and distributed coupons so doctors could let patients try a 30-day free supply of these highly addictive drugs. Literature on display at an overdose prevention organisation in Hamilton, New Jersey. ![]()
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