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Oxycodone
sampled by Matthew Gorman
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| Everyone, it seems, has his or her own addiction of choice. For many it’s the booze or it’s pot, or both of these in tandem, and I certainly know more than my share of folks who seek out cocaine with the fervor of crazed prospectors looking for gold in ‘them thar hills’. But, for me, it’s always been that special class of life-destroying drugs known as opiates that tend to prick up my ears at their very mention. As such, I have alternately enjoyed and loathed a long and checkered relationship with this month’s particular vice, the opioid agonist, oxycodone. Oxycodone was originally developed in Germany in 1916, and was first marketed under the brand names of Eukodal and Dinarkon. Oxycodone is synthesized from thebaine, a major component in opium, and is chemically similar to the drug codeine, from which its name is partially derived. It was developed for the treatment of pain in cancer patients, and as such, it is a particularly powerful opioid analgesic that is around 50% stronger than hydrocodone, a drug to which it is also chemically similar. However, unlike codeine and hydrocodone, oxycodone is active as soon as it enters the body, making its effects come on rather quickly. And goddamn it feels great! Oxycodone is typically synthesized from thebaine into a hydrochloride salt and then subsequently pressed into tablet form employing either inert binders or active binders such as aspirin or acetaminophen. Tablets are made in dose sizes from as little as 5mg of the drug to as high as 160mg. The drug was first introduced to the American pharmaceutical market in 1939, and goes by many brand names with which many of us here in the U.S. are undoubtedly familiar. With inert binders (or, in other words, in it’s “pure” form, as I like to say) oxycodone is marketed as the well known OxyContin (and yes, that’s Contin with 2 N’s people; I swear to God if I hear just one more idiot pronounce it “oxy-cotton”, I am going to fucking hurt somebody) which is actually short for Oxycodone Continuous release. This keeps the drug actively time-released throughout your body, which, of course, keeps you loaded for quite some time. There are also several quick releasing oxycodone brands with inert binders such as OxyNorm and OxyFAST. Now, the oxycodone tablets employing acetaminophen as a binder are known by such recognizable brand names as Percacet and Endocet, so you might have even had some the last time you got a wisdom tooth pulled or broke an ankle. And with aspirin as a binder, oxycodone is known by such names as Roxiprin and Percadan. And now you know the difference between Percacet and Percadan! You learn something new everyday. Oxycodone is really, really pleasurable, but it is highly addictive and can be highly dangerous. I remember that my friends and I used to split one 80mg tablet between us 4 ways and all still get high as hell, so I really don’t know how anyone could ingest a 160mg tablet in one sitting and not O.D. I certainly wouldn’t try it! |
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