Vanguard | May 20, 2011 | 21 comments

'Gateway to Heroin': Vanguard Trailer

MarianaVanZeller

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In "Gateway to Heroin," Mariana van Zeller investigates how and why OxyContin has fueled a new heroin epidemic in and around Boston.

"Gateway to Heroin" premieres Monday, June 20 at 9/8c on Current TV.

"Vanguard" is Current TV's no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.

For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.

Current Media, the Peabody-and Emmy Award-winning television and online network founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, engages viewers with smart, provocative and timely programming -stories that no one else is telling in ways that no one else is telling them. Current's programming shines a light where others won't dare and boldly explores important subjects -- opening minds, sparking conversations and forming deep connections with its viewers. The channel's audience is comprised of affluent, curious, social and connected adults who crave the kind of entertaining, enlightening, witty and informative programming found on Current's TV and online properties. Current is now available via cable and satellite TV in 75 million households worldwide - 60 million households in the US - through distribution partners Comcast (Channel 107); Time Warner ; DirecTV (Channel 358 nationwide); Dish Network (Channel 196 nationwide); Verizon and AT&T. In the UK and Ireland, Current is available on BSkyB (Channel 183) and Virgin Media (Channel 155), and in Italy, Current is available on Sky Italia (Channel 130). Viewers can also find Current online at http://www.current.com.
  1. groups:
    Current Video,   Best of TV US,   Vanguard,   Vanguard Weekly Special,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Current TV,  Boston,  Massachusetts,  Mariana van Zeller,  8 more
  3. credits:
    MarianaVanZeller Correspondent
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21 comments // 'Gateway to Heroin': Vanguard Trailer // Video

  • SuzetteEnnon
    • 0
      SuzetteEnnon  

    • It is a shame that people will do anything for money! Even destroy our children in the process, this is so bad!! I really wonder how the pharmacies and pushers can sleep at night, would it be okay for their own kids to have access to the same prescriptions they are selling to our kids? Boston really needs help! And all the prayer and programs for addiction needed! There are sucess stories and that's what those addicted need to hear! They need to know they can stop!

    • 1 month ago
  • Dave_Rabbitt
  • children3
    • 0
      children3  

    • My daughter's life was ruined! My daughter shattered her knee at the age of 19 needless 5 surgeries later, and millions of all the hard drugs she was addicted.

      The base let her go in pain, knee not fixed, surgery's gone wrong, and addicted without helping her to get off. She felt so helpless, and afraid so much so that she began to write her own prescription's. Not getting them from dealers she increased her dosage when she wanted to. Caught writing false prescription's...so, here she is 11 years later after 5 years of the military giving her pain meds to cover their mistake, dreams shattered, and half of her life done..this is a story people should here....and she has the whole story...

    • 11 months ago
  • Michelle_H
    • +1
      Michelle_H  

    • Is there an place to watch these shows outside of the Current channel? I think it's a very important segment. And I know of many people who would like to view....

    • 11 months ago
  • Johnny_Dangerously
  • Johnny_Dangerously
  • Johnny_Dangerously
  • PastorAgnostic
  • CoyoteMan
    • +1
      CoyoteMan  

    • Think about it for minute. Illegal drug dealers and big pharma want your money so they have to make you addicted to their drugs. Big pharma's drugs will never cure anyone or anything. They are created, patented and sold to addict people. It's not just the Oxycodones it's all of their patented pills.
      Just a small example. Viagra is $20 per pill/prescription only in the US. $1.00 sold over the counter in Thailand. There is the difference. $19 per pill!!
      Come on people see the greed that is Big pharma then you'll see why those pills are addicting just like heroine or crack.
      Maybe then people will begin to understand why the War on Drugs is a joke and so-called illegal drugs should be legalized.

    • 11 months ago
  • Sharon_Spilman
    • +2
      Sharon_Spilman  

    • and let me say also, that Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Vicodin as well as many other drugs containing 'synthetic' opiates ARE heroin. Just because it's not 'natural' (derived from poppies) doesn't mean it's not every bit as addicting or even more so.

    • 11 months ago
  • Sharon_Spilman
    • +1
      Sharon_Spilman  

    • This is an epidemic that stretches from coast to coast and beyond. Every community, in every state is being systematically decimated by this drug and it's availability to our youth. When will the 'mainstream' media wake up and pay attention to it? When they stop showing their sponsors pharmaceutical commercials?

    • 11 months ago
  • CoyoteMan
    • +2
      CoyoteMan  
    • Sharon_Spilman:

      Easy answer to your question. The drug companies who make those drugs will pull their multi-million dollar ads from those networks who claim their drugs are just as bad as illegal drugs like heroine.
      The news business is a profit business. The first thing that goes in a war is truth.
      This is a war for money among news outlets.

    • 11 months ago
  • Sharon_Spilman
    • 0
      Sharon_Spilman  
    • CoyoteMan:

      Unfortunately true. There was some recent 'buzz' about the 'decriminalization' of pot, but it's faded from the radar in most news media... wonder how much the big pharma has promised the presidential campaigns to bury it in committee?

    • 11 months ago
  • shengled
    • 0
      shengled  

    • This "Gateway" to heroin piece is bullshit. Mass has had heroin problem for a lot longer than 0xycodone has been around. I would never conceive of using heroin because I take oxy's for pain. It's just ridiculous. Addicts will just use heroin. I guess it's much easier to get heroin than oxycodone although I have no idea where to get heroin. South Florida seems to be a problem. The doctors down there are writing the prescriptions way too much and for people with no debilitating pain problems. The oxycodone works for pain. I've been taking it for about a year or more and at first I thought it was the answer to my pain problem. It wasnt until I lost my job and couldnt afford to go to the doctor when I found out the problem with this medication. The side effects were horrible. Painful and non-stop for 5 days and I didnt see an end to the pain from the side effects. Then I knew I was in trouble. By then I had enough money to get back to the doctor to get my prescription filled. Never once did I think of, nor do I even know where to get heroin. As bad as the withdrawals were I wouldn't have taken heroin. The funny, or maybe not so funny thing is that it's pretty much heroin made in a lab so as high as I might seem on my horse, I'm already taking a legal form of heroin. After that experience I'm very afraid to run out of medication the side effects were so bad. There ya go BIG PHARM.....u got me. Now what? My doctor said that if I don't change my profession (construction) that I wouldn't be able to walk in 10 years. That is a scary thing to hear for a guy that is only 40 years old. So I went back to school and carry a 3.22 GPA and it's gone up every semester since I've been back in school. It's only that low because in my 20's I went to community college and didnt take it seriously so I started out with a lower GPA. Hopefully when I finish school in 2 years I wont have to do any physical labor which causes most of the pain. The other pain comes from the arthritis, bone spurs and stenosis in my spine which can prob be handled with a non-narcotic medication.The messed up thing is that my osteo Dr said that if I had good insurance I can get stem cells injected in my spine and regrow some of the cartilage that is at the moment bulging and torn. I dont know how these guys are coming down to Florida and getting these pills. Half of the time I cant get them from my pharmacy and I live here. I hope these guys get caught and every other one of them that are keeping me from getting my medication. These gangsta like dudes in the video are the problem. Stealing, getting people to come to Florida to get the meds and taking them back to Boston. I cant believe how easy it is for them to get them. Sometimes my pharmacy is out for a week while i'm reeling from the side effects until they get their next shipment. I've commented on this same issue before here on current but the
      "gateway" is off base. I love current and think they are really good journalist. The kind of grass roots type, non-hyperbolic news we need more of but they are off base with this one

    • 12 months ago
  • Sharon_Spilman
    • 0
      Sharon_Spilman  
    • shengled:

      ahhhh... good for you shengled... but let's hope by the time you finish your college career you won't have mortgaged your future to student loans that will prevent you from ever living a decent life...

    • 11 months ago
  • shengled
    • 0
      shengled  
    • Sharon_Spilman:

      Thanks sharon but unfortunately, that's right where it's headed. Already in deep. You know the sad thing is that my company doesn't offer any kind of health insurance and what I pay each month to be pain free (or close to it), I could prob finance my education for the most part.

    • 11 months ago
  • SmokingBlows
  • mato9012
    • +1
      mato9012  
    • Image

    • This is an overdone trailer - just listen to the melodramatic tone in her voice. I have no doubt that Rx narcotics, particularly oxycodone (oxycontin is just the proprietary name for extended release oxycodone). I am a retired psychotherapist who specialized in the treatment of trauma and addictive-related disorders. Narcotic addiction is horrible, in large part because of the amount of money needed to maintain one's addiction. This is the problem with treating health issues through the legal system. Because Big Pharma has such huge political clout through its drastically inflated ratio of # of lobbyists per legislator in Washington, this drug has become a drug used recreationally or to maintain an opioid addiction. But please, let's not throw the bably out with the bath water. I suffer from very severe, chronic pain and have little life outside of my chair and my computer. The combination of Fentanyl patches and large amounts of Opana (oxymorphone - purportedly 50 percent stronger than oxycodone (immediate release) for breakthrough pain. Here is where and why we need to investigate, from Wikipedia:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxycodone :

      "Marketing and misbrandingCritics have accused Purdue Pharma of putting profits ahead of public interest by applying "significant political pressure" to attempt to reverse South Carolina's requiring prior approval before a person with Medicaid can receive the drug;[52] for "fail[ing] to adequately warn consumers of the risks" of OxyContin such as dependence;[53] and for promoting the drug "aggressively" and by means such as "promotional beach hats, pedometers and swing-music CDs."[53][54]

      In May 2007 Purdue Pharma "agreed to pay $19.5 million" in fines relating to aggressive off-label marketing practices of OxyContin in 26 states and the District of Columbia.[55] In specific, the company encouraged dosing more frequent than the recommended interval of 12 hours, and did not fully disclose the risk of hazardous or harmful use.[55]

      Later in May 2007 Purdue Pharma and three of its top executives pleaded guilty in a Virginia federal court to charges that they misbranded OxyContin by representing it to have "less euphoric effect and less abuse potential" than it actually has, and by claiming that people taking the drug at low doses could stop taking it suddenly without symptoms of withdrawal.[56] The FDA had not approved these claims.[57] The company and the executives were to pay $634 million in fines for felony and misdemeanor misbranding.[56]"

      Outrageous, huh...

      Prior to my decline in health and my elevated age, I also did evaluations and treatment development for a number of district and municipal courts in both Kansas and Missouri. That system of treating severe health/addiction issues with the court system is not working. Of course the Courts and the huge industry that is connected to them, namely treatment agencies and large numbers of probation and parole officers has NOT been successful and only serves to increase the the gross number of billions of dollars spent on the 'War on Drugs." Reform is necessary because we cannot continue to send our young people and minorities to prison. And outlawing drugs that have known clinical efficacy in the treatment of chronic pain is a shoot-from-the-hip, simplistic, and ineffective answer. If it were not for opioid analgesics, I would have chosen to take my own life - such was the level of pain I had to endure. Treatment of chronic pain with high-dose opiates is the recommended protocol supported by the AMA and its sub-specialty group, The American Society of Addiction Medicine. However, the FDA, with no background in medicine would like to scare doctors into following this now well-accepted course of treatment. So these are the two sides of the 'Oxycotin Epidemic' which, btw, is really incorrect. Addicts are much more interested in the Immediate Release Oxycodone instead of the Extended Release Oxycotin which is the proprietary name. So the use of the term Oxycotin is really an incorrect term for the drug that has become such a drug of abuse and dependence and addiction in this country.

    • 12 months ago
  • ashgallagher
  • Sinsinamon
    • +3
      Sinsinamon  

    • Finally someone is covering this! Jeez I know the 90's are back but that doesn't have to include the grunge heroin scene that took Kurt Cobain off the planet. The only thing I wish they would incorporate is how vicodin is an even bigger gateway to heroin use particularily amongst college kids.

    • 1 year ago
  • becktionary83

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