Misuse of Drug Hurts Legitimate Users August 30, 2000
News Summary
Oxy -- the street name for OxyContin, a potent, painkilling drug -- is becoming trendy in rural Southwestern Virginia, and the illicit trade is hurting those who legitimately need the drug, the Roanoke Times reported Aug. 17.The drug is prescribed to people who are dying of cancer or recovering from major surgery. But street users of the drug are attracting to its euphoric high and are robbing stores, shoplifting, stealing and forging checks to get it, according to the Times.
Last year in Virginia's Tazewell County alone, prosecutors charged more than 150 people with felonies associated with the drug. According to authorities, many users of Oxy are young and unaware of how addictive the opioid-based OxyContin can be. Those who get hooked on the drug get prescriptions for it by going from doctor to doctor with bogus symptoms.
Many drugstores in several Southwestern Virginia counties no longer carry OxyContin in order to deter theft. As a result, many patients who legitimately need the drug are having greater difficulty in obtaining it.
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