OxyContin Maker to Run Drug Abuse Ads
From Times Wire Reports
The manufacturer of a powerful painkiller that is fast gaining a reputation as a deadly recreational drug is starting an advertising campaign to discourage illegal use of prescription drugs.
Beginning Monday, Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, will run radio advertisements in Palm Beach County, Fla.; Cincinnati; Philadelphia; and Charleston, W. Va.
In the last three years, OxyContin and its active ingredient, oxycodone, have been blamed for more than 100 fatal overdoses nationwide. There have been 54 overdose deaths in Palm Beach County alone in the first half of 2001.
The ads do not mention OxyContin or any drug by name. They say some of the side effects of drug abuse include embarrassment, loss of self-respect and social isolation.
