Series: Wasted Youth -- Damage Done (5 Of 6)

A Miracle Drug?

OXYCONTIN'S PAIN RELIEF COMES WITH A HIDDEN COST

After years of near crippling and chronic back pain, a Norton man
found relief when a doctor prescribed OxyContin.

"It was the only thing that worked," he said.

But then, after five years, his doctor stopped the prescription,
fearing the man was becoming addicted.

It was already too late.

Today, the 45-year-old man, who once ran his own painting business
and didn't want his name used, is on methadone to overcome his
addiction to the heroin he turned to when the OxyContin was gone.

"The number one thing for me was getting rid of the pain," he said.

While teens and young adults are experimenting with -- and getting
addicted to -- OxyContin bought illegally or swiped from medicine
cabinets, there is another group of addicts who had been prescribed
the drug by a doctor.

It wasn't what OxyContin was supposed to be.

When Purdue Pharma put OxyContin on the market in 1996, the drug was
hailed as a breakthrough in the treatment of severe and chronic pain.

It was called a "miracle drug" by patients with chronic pain and
offered relief to those with cancer.

Then users discovered that crushing the time-release tablet and
snorting or injecting the powder produced a heroin-like high.

OxyContin contains oxycodone, a narcotic that has been abused in
various medications for 30 years, according to the Office of Drug
Control Policy. The drug produces opiate-like euphoric effects. and
those who keep taking it can develop a tolerance.

According to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 3
million people aged 12 or older had used OxyContin non-medically at
least once in their lifetime -- up from 2.8 million in 2003.