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OxyContin in Ontario: the multiple materialities of prescription painkillers
1School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, 28 Division Street, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.
Background:
In the past decade, OxyContin diversion and misusehave been firmly established in Ontarian public discourse as serious problems requiring major intervention.This article contextualizes and theorizesthe processes through which the marketing of the prescription opioid and its subsequent problematization occurred. Theanalysis refuses the impossible choice between the 'deserving pain patient' and the 'undeserving addict,' between the war on pain and the war on drugs, and between a notion of OxyContin as either miracle panacea or destructive poison. Rather than falling in step with these binaries, OxyContinis theorized across them, or multiply, with the aim of moving beyond established moral and theoretical registers for exploring embodied consumption.
Methods:
This discursive study is based on a broad range of texts collected between 2009-2013: Hansard reports from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario; newspaper, magazine, and internet coverage of OxyContin; and policy documents, research reports, and position papers and news releases produced by government agencies, advocacy organizations, professional bodies, think tanks, tribal councils, and law enforcement agencies.
Results:
Pharmaceutical industry and state actors have attempted to dualistically parse disparate materializations of OxyContin, a tactic that intensified as media pressure helped produce the notion of a public health crisis and, implicitly, a crisis of welfare dependence. By focusing on the (impossible) task of stratifying proper from improper use, the drug's advocatessought to secure the integrity of opioid painkillers and to protect their materialization as vehicles for maintaining a body that is normal, stable, and in control, as opposed to a body of excess that threatens to expose the consumerist logic of contemporary medicine.
Conclusion:
Attempts to contain the multiplicity of OxyContin result in the further entrenchment of privatized and individualized approaches to pain and painkilling and serve to undermine rather than secure public health and safety.
Insights
OxyContin diversion and misuse in Ontario are complex issues. Attempts to categorize its use fail, leading to individualized pain management that harms public health.
Area of Science:
- Sociology of Medicine
- Public Health Policy
- Pharmaceutical Studies
Background:
- OxyContin diversion and misuse have become significant public health concerns in Ontario.
- This study examines the marketing and subsequent problematization of OxyContin.
- It moves beyond simplistic binaries of 'deserving patient' versus 'undeserving addict' to explore embodied consumption.
Purpose of the Study:
- To contextualize and theorize the processes of OxyContin marketing and problematization.
- To analyze the discursive construction of OxyContin use and misuse.
- To offer a more nuanced understanding of embodied opioid consumption.
Main Methods:
- Discursive study analyzing texts from 2009-2013.
- Inclusion of Hansard reports, media coverage, and policy documents.
- Analysis of materials from government, advocacy, professional, and law enforcement bodies.
Main Results:
- Pharmaceutical and state actors attempted to categorize OxyContin use, intensifying as a public health crisis emerged.
- Efforts to distinguish 'proper' from 'improper' use aimed to protect opioid painkillers and maintain a controlled body.
- This strategy exposed the consumerist logic within contemporary medicine.
Conclusions:
- Efforts to control the multifaceted nature of OxyContin have reinforced privatized and individualized approaches to pain.
- These approaches undermine public health and safety rather than enhancing them.
- A more holistic approach is needed to address the complexities of opioid use and pain management.
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