NCJ Number
197500
Date Published
August 2001
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This document alerts drug law enforcement and treatment providers of the increase of use of methamphetamine and OxyContin, sometimes taken simultaneously, in three rural areas of the Midwest.
Abstract
Some drug users in northwestern Arkansas and southern Illinois and Missouri are taking methamphetamine and OxyContin simultaneously to achieve an enhanced euphoric effect or taking OxyContin after using methamphetamine in order to mitigate the side effects of methamphetamine use. OxyContin is an opiate agonist prescribed for moderate to severe pain relief associated with cancer, chronic pain, and serious injuries. It is longer lasting and stronger than any other oxycodone product on the market. OxyContin can be purchased legally with a prescription. Methamphetamine users may be responsible for a surge in demand for OxyContin in northwestern Arkansas. Some patients in southern Missouri that legitimately take OxyContin for pain relief also take the drug with methamphetamine. Some will trade portions of their prescribed OxyContin for methamphetamine. In February 2001, a Federal drug task force in southern Illinois seized two operational methamphetamine laboratories that contained numerous empty OxyContin bottles. The term “speedballing” has been broadened from the injection of a mixture of cocaine and heroin to the simultaneous use via injection, inhalation, or intranasal snorting of a stimulant with a depressant. A depressant may be used to mitigate the “crash” effect associated with the use of a stimulant. This process, called “parachuting down” involves sequential drug use – administering a depressant as a stimulant’s effects diminish. This drug combination is often fatal, particularly for stimulant abusers that do not have a strong tolerance for narcotic depressants. The methamphetamine abuser population in the Midwest continues to expand, according to the increases in methamphetamine production in the area. State law enforcement officials in the Midwest report dramatic increases in the number of methamphetamine laboratories seized in their jurisdictions.