Painkiller Opana, new scourge of rural America | Reuters
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`Painkiller Opana, new scourge of rural
`America
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`Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:01am EDT
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`* Powerful opioid cuts a deadly path, abuse surges
`
`* Rise of Opana said to track changes to Oxycontin
`
`* Opana's maker reformulating pill to deter abuse
`
`By Mary Wisniewski
`
`AUSTIN, Ind., March 27 (Reuters) - Back in high school in
`Houston, Texas, C.J. Coomer got good grades and played football.
`He was dark-haired and handsome, popular with his friends and
`doted on by his family.
`
`But when his mother got divorced and moved to be near family in
`rural Scott County, Indiana, Coomer began running with a crowd
`there that abused prescription painkillers to get high. His weight
`dropped from 210 pounds to just 140 pounds (64 kg), he couldn't
`work, and was constantly borrowing money.
`
`One night last July, Coomer tried something new -- Opana, a
`powerful opioid painkiller containing oxymorphone. He
`overdosed and died at the age of 24.
`
`"It's a nightmare every single day," said
`his mother, Melissa Himmelheber, 43, who wiped away tears as she showed pictures of her
`lost son. "This is a family that was extremely close. Now we're just picking up the shattered
`pieces."
`
`Prescription drug abuse is the new scourge of rural America. It now leads to more deaths in
`the United States than heroin and cocaine combined, and rural residents are nearly twice as
`likely to overdose on pills than people in big cities, according to the Centers for Disease
`Control.
`
`While methamphetamine addiction has long been associated with small towns, prescription
`painkillers have overtaken meth as the most abused drugs in places such as southern
`Indiana, according to local authorities.
`
`Opana is the hot new prescription drug of abuse, sometimes with tragic consequences.
`
`At least nine people have died so far this year from prescription drug overdoses in Scott
`County, Indiana. Most of the fatalities involved Opana, according to county coroner Kevin
`Collins.
`
`http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/drugs-abuse-opana-idUSL1E8EM97N20120327
`
`1/14/2015
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`Painkiller Opana, new scourge of rural
`America
`
`Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:01am EDT
`
`Tweet
`
`1
`
`Share
`Share
`
`Share this
`
`0
`
`
`
`RELATED NEWS
`
`Teens may have trouble
`getting morning-after pill
`
`Whitney Houston drowned
`with cocaine in system:
`coroner
`
`New drug promises relief
`from aspirin heartburn
`
`Appeals court lets DEA
`suspend Cardinal license
`
`Court lets two CVS stores
`sell controlled drugs
`
`ANALYSIS & OPINION
`
`Irish Catholic Church
`leaders were negligent
`about abuse, Vatican report
`says
`
`A Sex Ed 101 curriculum for
`conservatives
`
`RELATED TOPICS
`Stocks »
`Markets »
`Healthcare »
`
`* Powerful opioid cuts a deadly path, abuse surges
`
`* Rise of Opana said to track changes to Oxycontin
`
`* Opana's maker reformulating pill to deter abuse
`
`By Mary Wisniewski
`
`AUSTIN, Ind., March 27 (Reuters) - Back in high school in
`Houston, Texas, C.J. Coomer got good grades and played football.
`He was dark-haired and handsome, popular with his friends and
`doted on by his family.
`
`But when his mother got divorced and moved to be near family in
`rural Scott County, Indiana, Coomer began running with a crowd
`there that abused prescription painkillers to get high. His weight
`dropped from 210 pounds to just 140 pounds (64 kg), he couldn't
`work, and was constantly borrowing money.
`
`One night last July, Coomer tried something new -- Opana, a
`powerful opioid painkiller containing oxymorphone. He
`overdosed and died at the age of 24.
`
`"It's a nightmare every single day," said
`his mother, Melissa Himmelheber, 43, who wiped away tears as she showed pictures of her
`lost son. "This is a family that was extremely close. Now we're just picking up the shattered
`pieces."
`
`Prescription drug abuse is the new scourge of rural America. It now leads to more deaths in
`the United States than heroin and cocaine combined, and rural residents are nearly twice as
`likely to overdose on pills than people in big cities, according to the Centers for Disease
`Control.
`
`While methamphetamine addiction has long been associated with small towns, prescription
`painkillers have overtaken meth as the most abused drugs in places such as southern
`Indiana, according to local authorities.
`
`Opana is the hot new prescription drug of abuse, sometimes with tragic consequences.
`
`At least nine people have died so far this year from prescription drug overdoses in Scott
`County, Indiana. Most of the fatalities involved Opana, according to county coroner Kevin
`Collins.
`
`http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/drugs-abuse-opana-idUSL1E8EM97N20120327
`
`1/14/2015
`
`1
`
`
`
`Painkiller Opana, new scourge of rural America | Reuters
`
`Page 2 of 5
`
`Before 2011, only about 20 percent of the cases referred to the coroner were overdose
`deaths, and most of those were suicides rather than accidents. Last year, prescription drug
`overdoses accounted for 19 deaths, or about half of all deaths referred to the coroner in this
`county of just 24,000 on the southern tip of Indiana, about 30 miles from Louisville,
`Kentucky.
`
`"We're seeing a lot of 25-year-olds who are dead for no apparent reason," said Collins, who
`is so disheartened by the overdoses that it is one reason he won't run for reelection in May.
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`POTENT, DEADLY
`
`Law enforcement officials are alarmed by the rise of Opana abuse, which they said started
`after Oxycontin was changed in late 2010 to make that drug more difficult to snort or inject
`for a heroin-like high. Oxycontin is a brand of oxycodone.
`
`Opana abuse can be deadly because it is more potent, per milligram, than Oxycontin, and
`users who are not familiar with how strong it is may be vulnerable to overdosing.
`
`Opana, known by such street names as "stop signs," "the O bomb," and "new blues," is
`crushed and either snorted or injected. Crushing defeats the pill's "extended release" design,
`releasing the drug all at once.
`
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`"This Opana pill has really kicked us in the rear," said Indiana State Police Sergeant Jerry
`Goodin. "We've never seen an addiction like this."
`
`Oxycontin's new pills make it harder to crush them into a powder as they instead become
`gummy and cannot be readily snorted or injected. This drove abusers to switch to Opana or
`to generic, immediate-release forms of oxycodone, according to John Burke, president of
`the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators. Drug abuse experts have also
`found an increase in heroin use.
`
`Endo Pharmaceuticals, which produces Opana, announced in December that it would
`reformulate Opana. The new pill is being manufactured now.
`
`The new formulation makes it difficult to crush and it turns viscous or "gooey" if an abuser
`tries to add liquid to it, said company spokesman Kevin Wiggins. When used properly,
`Opana is indicated for chronic low back and osteoarthritis pain, and cancer pain.
`
`But the old form of Opana is still available, and pharmacy and home robberies are on the
`rise as addicts search for a way to get their fix, according to police.
`
`"We're pretty much consumed by it," Shane McHenry, a detective with the Dearborn County
`Sheriff's Department in southern Indiana, said of Opana. He said users who cannot afford
`Op a na so m etimes travel to Cincinnati to get heroin, which is cheaper in smaller amounts.
`
`Fort Wayne, Indiana reported about 11 pharmacy robberies related to Opana since Endo
`announced the reformulation, according to Fort Wayne police spokeswoman Raquel Foster.
`The thief would hand the pharmacist a note, as in a bank robbery, threatening harm if
`Opana was not delivered.
`
`MANY SOURCES
`
`The Opana problem has been reported by abuse experts around the country. In Florida, for
`example, the number of oxymorphone-related deaths rose to 493 in 2010, an increase of
`109 percent from the previous year, according to Jim Hall, director of a drug abuse center at
`Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
`
`Some users and dealers get painkillers from so-called "pill mills" -- storefront pain clinics
`that sell drugs for cash up front, often to out of-state buyers who take them for resale.
`
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`http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/drugs-abuse-opana-idUSL1E8EM97N20120327
`
`1/14/2015
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`Painkiller Opana, new scourge of rural America | Reuters
`
`Page 3 of 5
`
`But the other way users get pills is from their doctors, or by buying from seniors looking to
`supplement a fixed income. One Opana pill brings up to $90 on the street depending on
`dosage, so it is tempting to sell, said Scott County Sheriff Dan McClain.
`
`A woman in her late 70s was arrested in Austin, Indiana for exchanging pills for work
`around her house, McClain said.
`
`"Most of what I see is people with a prescription from their doctors and they need the
`money," said Austin, Indiana Police Detective Lonnie Noble. He said the appetite for Opana
`is "more aggressive" than it was for Oxycontin.
`
`Nashville, Tennessee Detective Michael Donaldson, who also has seen an increase in Opana
`abuse, said many small towns have "dirty doctors" willing to give out unneeded
`prescriptions.
`
`Scott County is one of the poorest areas in Indiana, with a median household income of
`$39,588 in 2010. It was a hot spot for oxycodone retail distribution in 2010, with 48.79 per
`capita dosage units -- the highest in the state, according to Lori Croasdell, a coordinator for
`CEASe of Scott County, a drug abuse prevention group.
`
`A northern section of Austin in Scott County showed signs of poverty and neglect. Run-
`down trailers and houses with broken windows and peeling paint were mixed in among
`well-kept homes and tidy gardens.
`
`McClain said the drugs cause a vicious cycle of poverty, since abusers cannot hold a job.
`"Most of them sleep until noon, get up, and try to find a way to get another pill," said
`McClain.
`
`One reason for the rise in prescription pill abuse is that Americans feel they can fix any
`problem - pain, depression, anxiety, hopelessness - with a pill, according to Shane Avery, a
`Scott County doctor. And some doctors, who may mean well but fear being sued for
`undertreating pain, give out pills better suited for cancer patients to soothe a backache,
`Avery said.
`
`"The people who abuse prescription medications know how to doctor shop," said Collins,
`the Scott County coroner.
`
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`http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/drugs-abuse-opana-idUSL1E8EM97N20120327
`
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`http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/drugs-abuse-opana-idUSL1E8EM97N20120327
`
`1/14/2015
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`Painkiller Opana, new scourge of rural America | Reuters
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`Page 5 of 5
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`http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/drugs-abuse-opana-idUSL1E8EM97N20120327
`
`1/14/2015
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`5
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