| During the late 1990s, rural Kentucky (and rural pockets of nearby states) witnessed the emergence of new drugs of abuse -- pharmaceutical analgesics. The powerful oxycodone, Oxycontin, first manufactured in 1996 and designed for time-released pain relief, found a ready population in rural hamlets and mountain communities. Intended for patients in pain associated with terminal disease, it became a drug of abuse as it was over-prescribed and trafficked within newly developing black markets. This paper describes the take-off of this new drug of abuse (and others since it), its antecedents, its effects on rural communities and coordinated efforts at containing it. |
Updated 05/20/2006