Oxycontin is legal, unlike crack, and apparently is so easy to become addicted to by people who start out with a doctor's prescription, that it and its maker, Perdue Pharma, have been the subject of a number of lawsuits. Rush is just one of its victims, lured into it through legitimate means -- a prescription for back pain.
Chronic back pain is so difficult to live with that people with it will do just about anything for relief.
Put oxycontin + chronic back pain together, and you have thousands of people who are in the same situation as Rush.
The main differences I see at first blush between Rush and the street druggies are:
-- Oxycontin and the other pain killers Rush used are legal, prescription medications; the street drugs like crack that he descries are all illegal anytime, anywhere, in any manner.
-- Initially, Rush was given a legal, legitimate prescription for painkillers to alleviate pain associated with a medical condition, whereas street addicts started by choice, just looking to get high;
-- While using it legally, Rush got "hooked" and needed to take more to achieve the same level of pain relief; street druggies, illegal users from the get-go, need more to achieve the same high. |
