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NZ First against high prescription rate of Oxycodone

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NZ First against high prescription rate of Oxycodone

By: Newstalk ZB staff | Latest Health News | Tuesday May 8 2012 13:50

 

Prescription rates for the painkiller Oxycodone aren't sitting well with New Zealand First.

MP Barbara Stewart believes the drug is being over prescribed to the public and claims its use has been implicated in the deaths of five people.

She says since Oxycodone was first subsidised by PHARMAC in 2005, its use has shot up so quickly that it's being prescribed more often than morphine.

Ms Stewart says the Oxycodone is highly addictive, dangerous, and should only be used as the final option for severe pain relief.

Instead, she says, many doctors are using it as a first choice drug.

Photo: thinkstock

 

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