Councilwoman Mary Ann Krause asked for more information about Oxycontin, and Rogers said that it has gained popularity as a pain reliever due to its 12-hour cycle of effectiveness.“How available is this and how is it distributed?” asked Vice Mayor Gabino Aguirre.“Young people are getting their hands on it at $40 a pop,” tenfold the prescription cost of $4 each, said Rogers.She noted that the frontal lobe of the brain “does not develop fully until age 30,” and younger people are more likely to suffer extreme affects from Oxycontin use.“Kids think ‘Nothing is going to happen to me,’ the same thing all the kids that been overdosing were saying. . .and they’re gone,” said Rogers.
Dangers of misuse of Oxycontin must be publicized
May 14, 2003
Santa Paula City Council
The City Council was advised about the dangers of a legal drug that is becoming a hot illegal seller on the streets. And the drug - Oxycontin - has led to the overdose deaths of dozens of Ventura County residents in less than a year.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe City Council was advised about the dangers of a legal drug that is becoming a hot illegal seller on the streets. And the drug - Oxycontin - has led to the overdose deaths of dozens of Ventura County residents in less than a year.April Rogers, Chairwoman of the Ventura County Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board, said illegal use of Oxycontin has become an “epidemic. . .I don’t know if you are aware,” but the misuse and abuse of the drug resulted in the overdose death of 35 county residents in less than a year’s time.“Most are around 18 or 19 years old,” who died from the drug, legally prescribed as a long-term painkiller when “morphine doesn’t do the trick.”Rogers said that Oxycontin is a “time-released opiate painkiller,” that illegal users crush or dilute to take a “full hit at one time. . .if they take another hit they stop breathing.”Overuse of Oxycontin stops the body from “recognizing carbon dioxide,” she added.“More parents have to become aware of what is happening; already one doctor in this county was stripped of his license,” for prescribing the drug arbitrarily, said Rogers. “Help us help families know what is going on.”
