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Review Continued
His is by far the most compelling story in tonight's "48 Hours: Addicted," about OxyContin, a prescription painkiller that contains a synthetic opium and that has become a sometimes lethal street drug. The program is revealing about the drug's abuse and also about the voyeuristic element of journalism.
An even more viscerally unsettling companion report about the epidemic of OxyContin abuse is on MTV's "True Life" series tomorrow, in a program far better than its lurid title, "I'm Hooked on OxyContin."
The linked reports are the result of corporate synergy - both CBS and MTV are part of Viacom - and both follow Mr. Swett's story while offering different examples of others who use OxyContin, legally and effectively for pain and illegally as a recreational drug. When it is not focused on Mr. Swett, "48 Hours" uses a familiar formula of network newsmagazines while MTV offers a more intimate, jarring view. But these stylistic differences pale next to the gripping personal stories about how quickly OxyContin, a pill that came on the market in 1996 has ruined so many lives.
The Troy Swett story is dramatic because "48 Hours" follows it as it happens. We see how easily the drug is abused, because its time-release coating is destroyed when the pill is ground up. Someone who chews or shoots it gets all the drug at once, creating a high similar to that of heroin.
Mr. Swett's mother pays $9,800 for his detox treatment, and also pays for the OxyContin that the treatment center has told him to keep using in the 10 days before he goes to California, to prevent withdrawal before arrives. We observe him in a hospital bed, sedated so he will not be aware of what we see: his body twitches as it goes through withdrawal.
His story is...
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