Well, glad I could provide some enlightenment there, Droop.
But I will say that I back up everything Phreex said.
OxyContin isn't particularly dangerous when used reasonably. There is the problem that unfortunantly some doctors with PhD's occassionally don't even know what reasonable use of painkillers entails.
As to the guy with cancer getting hooked on Oxy.. you know, I don't understand this stuff. My girlfriend's case isn't as serious, but similar in some respects. Over the past year she dramatically cut down her migraine pain medication, mainly Fioricet, because she was getting hooked on it and taking massive doses. Then again she usually spends half the week in the dark curled up in a ball in pain. If you are really suffering that much, I really don't see why you would be concerned with being an addict. And as for someone with cancer.. screw Oxy.. I'd be milking cancer for my own morphine drip.
If taken as directed, OxyContin comes on slowly. It last for about 12 hours. If someone seriously has cancer, then they should easily get prescribed a dose that will adaquately relieve their pain daily. Probably one pill a day with some other quick acting medications for break-through pain. There's no reason why anyone can't make it day to day without needing more medication if they haven't been abusing it. This cancer victim's dose is either too low or he has some psychological issues that need resolving and this would have happened with whatever medication he was on. It's not the oxy, it's him. And again, what's the big deal? This guy has cancer. Do you want the doctors to just not prescribe him anything?
I'm a heroin addict. I've been through withdrawal several times. Yes, for a few days, life is hell. You get over it. People that claim they can't stop are just making excuses for themselves or haven't convinced themselves entirely that they want to quit.
And to respond to FreaKk.. I understand what you mean about people pretending to need massive doses to have a good time. I have one friend who absolutely refuses to listen to any sort of reality when it comes to drugs. He just takes pieces of things and makes up the rest as he goes along to serve his self-interests. Anyways, he hadn't used any opiates in several months at the beginning of summer. So he starts dealing Oxy 80's for a while. First thing he does is crush and eat one with ground zero for a tolerance. I come over to his house and he's barely coherant and throwing up all afternoon. I ask him how much he took and he can't understand why I think he's an idiot for taking 80mgs. Then he goes on to tell me he's a junkie and he has a tolerance from the heroin he was using several months prior and that the throwing up is part of his withdrawals because it had been a few hours since he took it. Infact when we were shooting together this fall, he would use maybe two or three times a week. I would use daily for weeks at a time. But he'd still sit there and shoot up two big vials in a row of heroin when I'd only be shooting half of one. Again he would claim that he has some super tolerance. Then he would throw up and blame it on "withdrawals". People can just be really stupid sometimes.