“The doctor began prescribing the opioid painkiller OxyContin — in extraordinary quantities. In a single week in September, she issued orders for 1,500 pills, more than entire pharmacies sold in a month. In October, it was 11,000 pills. By December, she had prescribed more than 73,000, with a street value of nearly $6 million.” How did the sometimes deadly Oxycontin become so widely available to those who abuse it? The LA Times follows the pills and explains how more than 1 million OxyContin pills ended up in the hands of criminals and addicts. They also ask the question: What did Purdue Pharma know about the people who doled out their addictive product like Tic Tacs?

+ Congress appears set to pass a bill to combat painkiller abuse.