In the right hands, it is a powerful painkiller useful for cancer and chronic pain patients. In the wrong hands, it is a killer. In two states alone at least 90 people have died as a result of abusing this drug. CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports on the drug's trail of addiction and death. The problem is not just in Kentucky, where more than 200 people were busted this week in the state's biggest-ever drug raid.
Officials say the drug's popularity has spread to several other states.
Kerry Rowland of the Cincinnati Police Department. Oxy is blamed for dozens of overdose deaths. OxyContin came on the market at a time when a number of states including Ohio were passing laws that require physicians do more to control their patients' pain. Now doctors are concerned that a drug their patients view as a miracle is too often portrayed as a menace. Despite success stories associated with the drug, bad publicity is taking a toll.