Schumer pushes tough new rules on prescription
Post# of 2146
http://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/schume...-1.4999397
April 3, 2013
Citing an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday touted tough new legislation to keep painkillers out of the wrong hands.
Schumer is also pushing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the nation's pharmaceutical regulator, to require new generic forms of OxyContin -- a powerful painkiller -- to have anti-abuse technology present in the brand-name form.
That technology, implemented in 2010, all but neutralizes the active ingredients in the drug when it is converted into a paste or gel when crushed. Crushing the pills is a common way addicts misuse them to inject or snort the drug.
He warns that the lack of the technology makes the prescription drug's abuse worse and encourages thieves to steal it.