State rep: OxyContin = heroin

phr

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Provost:Oxycontin is equal to heroin
George P. Hassett
Somerville News
11/9/07



State Rep. Denise Provost, D-Somerville, has filed a bill that would make the criminal penalties for possession and distribution of oxycontin equal to the laws regulating heroin. In advocating for oxycontin’s change from a class B to a class A drug Provost told state lawmakers about the drug’s deadly effect in Somerville neighborhoods.

“Oxycontin is insidious. It has wreaked terrible havoc in my community. It was particularly insidious because it did not have the stigma or penalties attached to it that heroin did yet it is the functional equivalent,” she said. And Provost’s proposal would make it the legal equivalent also.

Oxycontin’s legacy can be seen in the strong grip heroin currently has over many Massachusetts communities, including Somerville. Many of today’s heroin addicts were initially introduced to the high of opiates through oxycontin beginning in 2000 and 2001 when the drug was first touted as a miracle painkiller able to relieve extreme pain because of it’s time release coating.

The communities surrounding Boston were hit hardest. Provost said teens and young adults in Somerville experienced an oxycontin epidemic.

“Users discovered they could circumvent the pill’s time release capability by crushing it and then snorting it. Instead of the drug’s effects being released over time they got an instant heroin-like high,” she said.

And, she said, the effect on Somerville was devastating. Provost said trips to wakes
and funerals for young men in their teens and early 20’s became too common and addicts once hooked on oxycontin shifted to heroin for a cheaper high.

“When oxycontin became difficult to get either because it was too expensive or unavailable users shifted to heroin going further down the road of damage and Addiction,” she said.

Provost said her proposal to up the drug’s designation to class A status would “impress
upon potential users and sellers the seriousness of the drug and signal that the Commonwealth will treat this drug as an equivalent to heroin,” she said.

Link!
 
'Cause users, let alone addicts, really take into consideration a drug's schedule before using. 8)
 
"able to relieve extreme pain because of it’s time release coating"
uh, coating?

and phroz that's damn right, who the fuck uses and gives a shit about the particular schedule?! Also, isn't schedule I 'no medical use' or some shit?..

Okay, so is he intending to make any oxycodone preparation the equivalent of H? Hows aboot roxicet? I dunno too much about the stronger, non-oxycontin oxycodone preparations, but surely there's some that are damn near an OC20. Guy should get his shit straight and realize all opiates are like heroin in the general sense. Dumbass.
 
Yea, I think you're right. I believe Schedule I has no medical use. I don't see how this would work. But then again, when does anything make sense when it comes to penalties for drugs?
 
^ and even more will make the switch if oxycodone/oxycontin becomes schedule I ... this bill is a great way to get more little kiddies turned on to D ... talk about out of touch
 
The oxy=heroin legal definition wouldn't be so bad if the laws were focused on treatment as opposed to punishment.
 
truly it's not even clear what is being advocated here so it's probably all a bunch of hot air

i knew people in MA around the time of the alleged oxycontin epidemic, which was definitely going on, but also coinciding with an influx of good dope

but local politics there is ridiculous so who knows. banning the specific pill oxycontin in the specific state of MA is just silly; banning oxycodone will never take off, it's an important pain med; who the hell knows...
 
OxyContin will not become CI. There is too much money, and benefit for pain sufferers, for that to happen. I think she may proposing that OxyContin abuse be punished more severly; like crack vs. cocaine. Interesting how more severe crack sentences did not work and they were recently taken down. I bet she doesn't know anything about that, huh. What a dumb bitch.
 
^ (was to Captainballs)
Good point. It could potentially deter kids 5-10 years down the line (even that is iffy), but anyone before or after would either keep using OC because they don't care, use heroin, or use any number of other pain-killers.

Do they even think of the effects of policies or do they just make up some random rationale?

Would this effect oxycodone IR's too or just OxyContin? I know the 30mg IR's are just as popular and to a lesser extent the 15mg IR.
 
^ punishing ___ g of oxycontin pills as ___ g of heroin?

what is that going to do? fucked is still fucked

oh wait...it's a good 'keep kids off drugs headline'...right...
 
^ punishing ___ g of oxycontin pills as ___ g of heroin?

what is that going to do? fucked is still fucked

I think he means that if the law was a legal obligation of the state to help oc addicts and heroin addicts the same, then the definition would be good. This announcement would be a step forward in bizarro U.S.A., where people with drug problems are given help. Instead, in the real world, they're given more reasons to do drugs (felony convictions, etc.).

I think these drugs need to be looked at as basically the same (with the exception that oc quality is always great), but the whole punishment part is totally counterproductive.
 
SomeKindaLove said:
^ punishing ___ g of oxycontin pills as ___ g of heroin?
hadn't even thought of that - does that mean that if you're holding a handful of OC20's, they'll weigh them out and count it as heroin weight?
 
Hey, this is a good idea. Let's make the penalty for ritalin the same as meth, and the penalty for abusing OTC dxm preparations the same as for possession of angeldust. In fact, why don't we just make everything illegal? If you analyze anything closely enough, you'll only eventually realize that everything's made up of the same shit that heroin is made of, on a small enough level. Why not just make everything, including air, water, food, and human beings--illegal.
 
SomeKindaLove said:
^ probably, look at LSD
hmm, given the relatively low weight of heroin I'd imagine cut offs for intent/distribution/trafficking are pretty low weight measures, if they're just gonna weigh oxy pills I'd have to wonder what ridiculously low # of OC20's you'd need to be jailed as a heroin dealer :\
 
Sorry to drag up a post from a week or so ago, but she is not advocating making OC or oxycodone a Schedule I drug.. Shedule I drugs are those that the govt says have no medical use and are 100% illegal, meaning yuo can't even get them by prescription. They include but are not limited to heroin, LSD and marijuana. What she wants to do is change OC to a class A drug from class B. What that will do is increase the penalties for posession, sales, etc. Currently, most prescription drugs are class B, while illegal drugs are class A. So, the penalty for getting caught with heroin is going to be more sever than getting caught with Vicodin, for example. That's all she wants to do, just increase the penalty for posession or sale to what it is for illegal drugs, not ban the drug entirely.
 
bingalpaws said:
hmm, given the relatively low weight of heroin I'd imagine cut offs for intent/distribution/trafficking are pretty low weight measures, if they're just gonna weigh oxy pills I'd have to wonder what ridiculously low # of OC20's you'd need to be jailed as a heroin dealer :\

A solid dose of OCs for me, in the form of 20's, would be about 15-20 pills. That probably weighs 10grams. Now, how fucked are you with 10 grams of heroin? And thats just if I have one dose, imagine having a weeks worth!

If 70grams of OC (total pill weight, ~100-150 pills I'd guess) = 70 grams of heroin, that = YOU'RE FUCKED FOR LIFE!
 
LOL

"ok so oxy is really bad because, as its getting harder to get, kids are using heroin....

what can we do....
hmmm...
I KNOW
....make it EVEN HARDER to get!"
 
bulldog8b said:
Sorry to drag up a post from a week or so ago, but she is not advocating making OC or oxycodone a Schedule I drug.. Shedule I drugs are those that the govt says have no medical use and are 100% illegal, meaning yuo can't even get them by prescription. They include but are not limited to heroin, LSD and marijuana. What she wants to do is change OC to a class A drug from class B. What that will do is increase the penalties for posession, sales, etc. Currently, most prescription drugs are class B, while illegal drugs are class A. So, the penalty for getting caught with heroin is going to be more sever than getting caught with Vicodin, for example. That's all she wants to do, just increase the penalty for posession or sale to what it is for illegal drugs, not ban the drug entirely.


Are you sure about that? I can't find anything about the US having a class system at all, just schedule I, II, III, IV, V.

The UK has Class A, B, C, and oxycodone is already at A.
 
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