Narconon Spokesperson finds flaws in strategy of Endo’s Opana Reformulation
The latest attempt to prevent drug overdose deaths is the reformulation of prescription opiate Opana, manufactured by Endo Pharmaceuticals. When the opiate painkiller OxyContin, preferred by so many addicts, was reformulated to thwart abusers, many users shifted to other drugs to satisfy the intense cravings associated with opiate use. Some people shifted to heroin and others sought out Opana, a drug twice as strong as OxyContin and thus more likely to cause overdose deaths.
Attempting to keep up with the trend, in 2011 the federal government requested that Endo Pharmaceuticals make Opana abuse-resistant as had been done with OxyContin. According to the manufacturer, Endo rushed a new formulation to the Food and Drug Administration and quickly gained approval for its manufacturing. In the meantime, people were dying as a result of abusing this stronger opiate.
In March 2012, WDRB.com news service reported on the increase in overdose deaths in midwest states like Indiana. A single Opana pill could be sold for as much as $90, according to their report. Those who were addicted would turn to pharmacy theft or they would steal property and trade it for pills.
Also according to WDRB.com, in one small Indiana County, opiate painkiller overdose deaths increased 109% in one year and accounted for half of all overdose deaths referred to the local coroner. Previously, opiates had only caused for one in five overdose deaths.
By 2012, prescription painkiller deaths were twice as frequent as deaths from heroin and cocaine combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC). The CDC also reported that rural residents were nearly twice as likely to overdose on prescription drugs as urban dwellers were.
Narconon Arrowhead Spokesman Explains Why Opana Reformulation Ineffective
“It’s never been possible to make the problem of addiction go away with arrests and it won’t be possible to do it with reformulations, either,” stated Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon Arrowhead is a premier, non-profit drug rehabilitation center in Southeastern Oklahoma. “While it may help prevent a few people from starting to abuse this kind of drug, those who are already addicted will find a way to get drugs that satisfy their intense cravings. The only way to help these people is through effective rehabilitation. A person must find relief from the cravings, guilt and depression that result from substance abuse.”
The Narconon Arrowhead rehabilitation program found that it was possible to provide this relief through a comprehensive rehab experience. At the large facility near McAlester, Oklahoma, as many as two hundred addicts are in recovery at any one time, utilizing nutritional supplements, a sauna detoxification program, and life skills training to set their lives on a sober track.
“When you avoid using drugs in treatment, you get a person started toward sobriety in the right way,” Mr. Hallmark commented. “Narconon never uses any addictive medication as part of rehabilitation and our result is a high success rate. Utilizing effective rehab, it is possible to save those who are addicted from an overdose death.”
For more information on Narconon Arrowhead, call 1-800-468-6933.
http://www.wdrb.com/story/18575172/special-report-the-opana-problem