ABINGDON, Va. — Purdue Pharma L.P., the maker of OxyContin, and three of its executives were ordered to pay a $634.5 million fine on Friday for misleading the public about the painkiller's risk of addiction.
U.S. District Judge James Jones levied the fine on Purdue, its top lawyer and former president and former chief medical officer after a hearing that lasted about four-and-a-half hours. The hearing included statements by numerous people who said their lives were changed forever by the addiction potential of OxyContin, a trade name for a long-acting form of the painkiller oxycodone.
Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected.
From 1996 to 2001, the number of oxycodone-related deaths nationwide increased fivefold while the annual number of OxyContin prescriptions increased nearly 20-fold, according to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In 2002, the DEA said the drug caused 146 deaths and contributed to another 318.
---It is ABOUT TIME some of the SOBs have to pay out for ruining so many lives. This is a nasty, nasty drug that is seriously addictive. Ive seen quite a few lives changed by it, all for the worse. I even know someone personally who lost her kids because of this drug. Its friggin nasty. To be honest with you, it has the same euphoric feeling as heroin if crushed and snorted. It can take you to some real high places, but when it brings you back you are in hell wanting more. Its very addictive and I think the company failed over the years to mention just how addictive it really is. My heart has a soft spot of junkies at times, you dont know w hy they get high, it could be to just escape something terrible that has happened to them. What gets me mad is when you hear about all these movie or rock stars that become junkies when they have all the money in the world and could avoid such situations. My heart goes out to the gutter junkie but not a man like Curt Cobain who had it all and pissed it away. Everyday is a struggle for me. My parents have to lock up their prescription pain killers from me in order for me to stay safe. The mind of a junkhead is an amazing thing. To me each day is one day at a time.... ---
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