Both, I think. There were a number of pharmacies in the area that stopped carrying oxycontin and anything related to it, and put up prominent signs in their store announcing that. But there were dealers who could provide it. One guy I knew stole from his mother, his brother, his children in order to get money to buy the stuff. He could no longer hold a job. The habit started when he hurt his back at the end of the 90s, and a doctor prescribed it. His personality tended toward addiction anyway, and this drug just threw him over the top. His life went on a downward spiral afterward, with a few brief respites when friends or families convinced him to get into rehab. I met him when he just got out, and was determined to turn his life around. He found a job and held it for close to a year. He was a house painter, and made good money when there was work. But the guy who hired him had issues of his own, and lost the business, after which the guy I knew couldn't find work, but had some money saved up from working the previous year. He couldn't find another job (this was 2008 by then), went back to drugs and ran through his money in no time.
I have no first hand experience of the others, but oxycontin should be banned. The above case is typical, not an aberration. |
