The impact of OxyContin reformulation at the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre: Pros and cons

Increases in the prescription of pharmaceutical opioids have coincided with an epidemic of drug overdose in the US, with evidence of similar effects in other jurisdictions including Australia (Dart et al., 2015; Pilgrim, Yafistham, Gaya, Saar, & Drummer, 2015). Oxycodone is implicated in a large number of deaths (Blanch, Pearson, & Haber, 2014; Dhalla et al., 2009; Roxburgh, Bruno, Larance, & Burns, 2011), a significant proportion of which involve intravenous administration of preparations designed for oral administration (Blanch et al., 2014).