Excerpt from a book called A World of Hillbilly Heroin (linked from Best of the Moment, now going by the name “The Browser”):
The reliance on government checks, and a vast array of painkillers and opiates, has turned towns like Gary into modern opium dens. The painkillers OxyContin, fentanyl — 80 times stronger than morphine — Lortab, as well as a wide variety of anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax, are widely abused. Many top off their daily cocktail of painkillers at night with sleeping pills and muscle relaxants. And for fun, addicts, especially the young, hold “pharm parties,” in which they combine their pills in a bowl, scoop out handfuls of medication, swallow them, and wait to feel the result.
Slate:
2006: Phar-Fetched “Pharm Parties”: Real or a media invention?
2008: Down on the Pharm, Again: Debunking “pharm parties” for the third time.