[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2195 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2195

To provide for the withdrawal of the drug OxyContin from the commercial 
                                market.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 2005

  Mr. Lynch introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the withdrawal of the drug OxyContin from the commercial 
                                market.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Act to Ban OxyContin''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The drug OxyContin has proven to be highly addictive.
            (2) The use of over-the-counter narcotics such as OxyContin 
        has risen to as much as 9 percent among students in middle 
        schools and high schools.
            (3) Overdoses of OxyContin have increased by 450 percent in 
        recent years.
            (4) The abuse of the drug, which is prevalent in 
        economically depressed areas, has been strongly linked to 
        criminal activity and has in some cases overwhelmed local law 
        enforcement.
            (5) Over 1.5 million tablets of the drug were stolen from 
        pharmacies between 2001 and 2003.
            (6) The active ingredient of OxyContin, oxycodone, is twice 
        as strong as morphine.
            (7) OxyContin's time-released effect, an important element 
        of its pharmaceutical use, is easily negated by abusers to 
        achieve a heroin-like effect.
            (8) The manufacturer of the drug has been cited twice for 
        using negligent and inappropriate advertising, downplaying the 
        potentially fatal risks of abuse.
            (9) OxyContin is the first brand-name product targeted for 
        monitoring by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
            (10) Health care professionals, such as pharmacists and 
        physicians, have been among those arrested and indicted for 
        distributing the drug in a nonofficial capacity.
            (11) The burdens of this drug to the public health outweigh 
        its potential therapeutic benefits, and given that alternative 
        pain medicines and methods are widely available, OxyContin 
        should be banned.

SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF DRUG OXYCONTIN FROM COMMERCIAL MARKET.

     Effective upon the expiration of 45 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the approved application under section 505(b) of 
the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for controlled-release 
oxycodone hydrochloride, which drug is marketed as OxyContin, is deemed 
to have been withdrawn under section 505(e) of such Act.
                                 <all>