What Can We Learn From Heath Ledger’s Death?

Trevor Butterworth

STATS’ Maia Szalavitz offers some insight into the problems of mixing “downs,” which is don’t: “don’t take “depressant” drugs — drugs that make you calm or sleepy, not depressed!!! — in combination with each other.” More over on the Huffington Post…

New Research Shows OxyContin Epidemic to be a Myth

Trevor Butterworth

The media and the Drug Enforcement Agency created a myth of widespread accidental addiction to OxyContin a new study of almost 28,000 drug addicts attending treatment centers across the United States shows. The research, published in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of American Psychiatry also demonstrates that:

most of the OxyContin use reported in the sample of individuals seeking addiction treatment did not originate from physician prescriptions, but rather from illicit sources, such as family, friends, or other illegitimate sources. Clearly, the pharmaceutical opioid problems of the individuals in this sample were part of a larger pattern of alcohol and other drug use—the problems were not “accidental,” secondary to prescribed use for pain or other medical problems. These results also suggest that those who suffer from OxyContin abuse or dependence share many characteristics with those who are dependent on other classes of drugs.

Oh, and just like the bogus meth epidemic, those who abuse OxyContin are overwhelmingly white. For more, read the STATS news highlight…