Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(KSL News) -- Utah County stores may soon stop stocking the painkiller Oxycontin due to a rise of abuse of the drug.
Oxycontin is used for terminal cancer patients and chronic pain sufferers.
However, the opium derivative can also be snorted to give a high like that of heroin. Addicts seeking the drug have been responsible for a rash of pharmacy burglaries in Utah.
Nexus Pain Care, a Provo clinic, says the pattern of abuse locally and nationally has forced them to begin phasing out the drug and limiting prescriptions. Other clinics and pharmacies are also following suit.
