Protesters Want Ban on OxyContin
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| Gaile Graves of Wisconsin and Kathy Murphy of Tampa at a protest against OxyContin. |
More than 30 parents protested Thursday in front of a Tampa pain clinic. They're calling for a ban on certain powerful painkillers, such as OxyContin, which are killing record numbers of people in Florida.
Kathy Murphy of Tampa can tell you what her 20-year-old son was like before he became addicted to Oxycodone – better known by its brand name, OxyContin.
“He was just a really nice kid with a great soul. A good hearted boy,” she said.
Then, he bought some OxyContin. Cheap. Four stints in rehab later, he’s still trying to shake it.
“I had no idea how addictive this drug is. It’s legalized heroin,” she said.
OxyCodone was blamed for the deaths of almost 1,000 Floridians in 2008, including more than 300 in the Bay area alone.
Supporters say Oxycodone is crucial in the fight against chronic pain. They say new regulations should curb Florida’s reputation as America’s pill mill.
But the parents of the dead and addicted say the drugs are too dangerous to be prescribed so freely. That’s why they braved the sun on busy Fletcher Avenue Thursday, with signs reading “Ban OxyContin.”
They say this is the first such protest here in the Tampa Bay area. They came from as far away as Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, Murphy’s son came back from rehab two days ago.
“He’s hoping. We’re trying to get him to go into the airforce, get some structure in his life. Stay away from his friends, because they’re still around,” she said.
And so is OxyContin, which you can buy on the streets of Tampa for $10 a pill.
In a statement, the maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, said, "Prescription drug abuse is a serious health problem involving many types of medications. Banning any one FDA-approved medication will not solve the prescription drug abuse problem. If OxyContin Tablets were unavailable, drug dealers and abusers would simply turn to other pain medications, licit and illicit."
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Another approach to the subject
If I may speak for a minority that doesn’t seem to be represented in this article, I find Ms Murphy attitude incredibly selfish. Her son, of his own free will, took a medication for which he had no medical need and addicted himself. Her response is to ban the medication. I wonder if her son had been repeatedly arrested for speeding would she advocate banning automobiles?
I suspect not.
And I suspect that she would not consider doing so because she needs automobiles and does not abuse their capabilities.
Forgotten in all this are the people who need Oxycodone. Some are in short term pain from accidents and injuries. Others, like myself, suffer from inexpiable (Idiopathic) chronic pain or pain from recognized conditions for which there is no cure. We are not seeking a quick high or escape from the mundane world; we are simply seeking to lower our pain level to the point where we can function.
In my case, it began ten years ago. My legs ached. The pain became more intense and I sought medical treatment. It was two years before a doctor suggested Oxycodone. Since then, I have continued to seek treatment and have tried a bewildering array of medicines and treatments, none of which has proven effective. I started with five milligrams and as my body adapted, my daily dose has increased to 15 milligrams. At no time have I felt any desire to increase the dose beyond what was needed to moderate the pain.
Am I addicted? Possibly, but in 2011 when a handyman we had hired stole my supply, I had to go without for a week. I vaguely noticed some discomfort at this involuntary “cold turkey” but most of my attention was taken by the agony in my legs.
What have I done that Ms Murphy wishes to sentence me to torture? Too strong a word? I disagree. What I experience when I cannot mute the pain with Oxycodone meets every criteria. It is her son that’s the criminal, but she wants me to suffer?
Should, some time in the future, a doctor find the malfunctioning neuron or be able to fix whatever has gone wrong with the pain center of my brain, I’ll be overjoyed to put aside the pain killers, but until then, don’t make my life a living hell because some self-centered, young man can’t control his appetites.