Every morning, Marie Dupin slips into the skin of a personality, an event, a place or a fact at the heart of the news.
Oxycodone, also known as OxyContin, is a painkiller at the heart of a 2021 American series titled dopesick. The dope of the sick or the story of patients who became addicted to their drugs until they died, against a backdrop of industrial lies.
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The Purdue Pharma laboratory, considered responsible for the promotion of this drug, had conquered America with lies, claiming that oxycodone caused almost no addiction. However, this powerful opiate found itself at the origin of a very serious health crisis in the United States where it caused more than 500,000 deaths in 20 years.
The use of this painkiller is increasing in France
Fear is growing in France after experts sounded the alarm. Already in 2019, the National Medicines Safety Agency worried about the knockout power of this painkiller. This time, it is the French Society of Pharmacology which alerts on its website. According to her, in France, the consumption of oxycodone has increased by 738% since 2006.
These medical pharmacologists have noticed new worrying signs. In recent months, in New Aquitaine, pharmacists in hospitals and clinics have increasingly been offering doctors oxycodone to relieve post-operative pain, on the pretext that it would cause fewer side effects such as constipation. . A false and dangerous observation.
A highly addictive substance
It is rather morphine that should systematically be prescribed first, because of the very high risks of addiction linked to oxycodone. In this region, the number of patients on oxycodone has increased by 25% in 5 years. An outbreak without a clear explanation to date, but which undoubtedly deserves that the health authorities take a close interest in it.
Recently, researchers from Grenoble published a vast study based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO). Conclusion: France would now be part of the group with the highest risk of opioid addiction along with Australia, Canada, Germany and the United States. A signal to be taken seriously if we want to avoid France finding itself at the heart of a bad French version of the series. Dopesick.