Is OxyContin Cure Worse Than Disease?

At times equipped, and usually needy, Cory Alan Sharlow terrified pharmacists throughout the city during a series of shameless burglaries last autumn.

His routine was well prepared and foreseeable: Steal a car. Steal from a pharmacist. Make his escape.

His purpose was less complicated, but usually the same: to get the OxyContin his body longed for.

The plan did the trick so well he conned 10 pharmacies in a month, until he was captured and later sent to jail.

Police and addictions experts say Sharlow’s case characterizes the threat and frustration of addicts powered to get their fix of OxyContin, the brand name presented an opioid painkiller that gives out the drug, oxycodone, through time release. When smashed, the high dose is discharged at once, creating a ecstatic sensation.