Ballantyne concluded that OxyContin supercharged what was already widespread dependence on lower levels of hydrocodone and oxycodone by drawing a new group of people into the “at risk” category. The drug was so powerful that it widened the circle of those vulnerable to addiction to suck in users of Percocet and Vicodin who had not allowed those drugs to take over their lives and who were not immediately at risk of overdose. OxyContin had found a fertile bed to burrow into. “Giving long-acting opiates captured a whole population that wouldn’t have got into trouble with opiates if they hadn’t
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