The Ontario Coroner's Office is investigating a second death connected to a chain of drug treatment clinics that offer a a highly controversial treatment that has divided addiction experts. So-called "rapid detox" treatment uses a cocktail of medications to speed through the withdrawl process while the patient remains under sedation. As part of the procedure, the patient is implanted with a pellet of the opate antagonist Naltrexone to prevent them from having intense cravings or obtaining any "high" from opiates once the treatment is complete.

Continue reading "The dangers of rapid-detox drug treatment" »

Posted by Ayatollah Jones at 01:18 AM | Permalink

Nine hundered miles east of Moscow, in the city of Yekaterinburg, the new treatment center "City Without Drugs" has developed a miracle cure for Opiate addiction: torture!

Continue reading "Russians Discover Miracle Cure for Opiate Addiction" »

Posted by Ayatollah Jones at 09:41 AM | Permalink

Clark University graduate Robert J. Bouvier likes to joke that he and his wife, Ioana, met over opium.

Their initial meeting wasn't quite that exotic, though their work has an international flair: The two share a deep understanding of the grim influence opium cultivation has on the lives of villagers in a northeastern region of Myanmar, formerly Burma.

Continue reading "Couple working to weaken opium's grip" »

Posted by Ayatollah Jones at 02:35 PM | Permalink

The Kentucky attorney who filed the latest lawsuit against the maker of OxyContin said his ultimate goal is to see the painkiller taken off the market.

Continue reading "Idiot Lawyer Calls for Total Ban on OxyContin" »

Posted by Ayatollah Jones at 04:56 AM | Permalink

Seven "former OxyContin addicts" are suing Pudue Pharma LP, the company that makes the drug for a whopping $5.2 billion. According to their lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim the drug's makers aggressively marketed the painkiller while downplaying its risks.

So was telling people to crush the pills up and inject them part of this "aggressive" marketing campaign? Somehow, I think not. Looks like we can file this one in the "I don't want to take responsibility for my own actions" file...

Continue reading "Morons try to Cash In on the OxyContin Media Hoax" »

Posted by Ayatollah Jones at 10:59 AM | Permalink

In this amazing article from AlterNet, Sandeep Kaushik explains that despite no evidence exists that increases in the abuse of Oxycontin are outpacing increases in prescriptions for it, the media's false exploitation of this story is causing legitimate patients great suffering due to ignorant doctors unwilling to prescribe the drug because of the controversy.

Continue reading "OxyCon Game: Anatomy of a Media-made Drug Scare" »

Posted by Ayatollah Jones at 05:49 AM | Permalink

West Virginia and three other states have been chosen for a federal prescription monitoring pilot program aimed at stopping abuse of the painkiller OxyContin. Will this program have any effect on the illicit distribution of the media's "Drug Du Jour"? Probably not. But chances are there will be quite a few deserving pain patients suddenly finding themselves without any medication. Typical.

Continue reading "West Virginia chosen for project to stop OxyContin abuse" »

Posted by Ayatollah Jones at 05:40 AM | Permalink

In typical knee-jerk fashion, OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma has stopped shipments of the "large dose" version of the prescription painkiller.

Continue reading "Purdue Suspends OxyContin Shipments" »

Posted by Ayatollah Jones at 10:22 AM | Permalink