--- title: OxyContin Approved for Children as Young as 11 description: There will be strict limits on when it is safe to prescribe canonical: https://time.com/3998262/children-oxycontin/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-14T16:07:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:09.401Z article:section: Health og:title: Children as Young as 11 Can Now Take OxyContin og:description: There will be strict limits on when it is safe to prescribe og:url: https://time.com/3998262/children-oxycontin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86a32685408d7e12/698853675f570f0118b1bdbe/endo-pharmaceuticals-opana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Opana OxyContin Morphine Pain Killers Drugs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Children as Young as 11 Can Now Take OxyContin twitter:description: There will be strict limits on when it is safe to prescribe twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86a32685408d7e12/698853675f570f0118b1bdbe/endo-pharmaceuticals-opana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Children as Young as 11 Can Now Take OxyContin > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep? [Watch (HLS stream): Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/o0FTMkL0.m3u8) (2:25)  _Published 2015-05-15. Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep?_ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 14, 2015 4:07 PM UTC  Schedule 2 narcotics Morphine Sulfate, OxyContin and Opana are displayed for a photograph in Carmichael, Calif. Schedule 2 narcotics Morphine Sulfate, OxyContin and Opana are displayed for a photograph in Carmichael, Calif. Rich Pedroncelli—AP by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 14, 2015 4:07 PM UTC The powerful painkiller OxyContin can now be prescribed to children as young as 11, the [Food and Drug Administration has decided](http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/NewsEvents/ucm456973.htm). The FDA requested that the drug’s manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, conduct studies to determine the safety of OxyContin for pediatric patients, and found that it would be safe for those in the 11 to 16 age range to take the drug, [NBC News reports](http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-approves-oxycontin-children-young-11-n409621). However, before a doctor can prescribe OxyContin, the child must already be responding to and tolerating a certain dosage of opioids, so the doctor is sure that the patient will be safe. OxyContin is used as a long-release version of oxycodone; it is to be taken every 12 hours rather than every 4 to 6 hours for long-term pain management. Comparatively few children require such a drug, which is often used in response to major surgery, cancer or injuries. The drug is notoriously abused by drug addicts, and was reformulated in 2010 to making crushing and snorting or injecting it more difficult. The only other long-release opioid with FDA labeling for pediatric patients is the Duragesic patch, which uses fentanyl. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3998262/children-oxycontin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3998262/children-oxycontin/"},"headline":"Children as Young as 11 Can Now Take OxyContin","datePublished":"2015-08-14T16:07:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:09.401Z","description":"There will be strict limits on when it is safe to prescribe","url":"https://time.com/3998262/children-oxycontin/","keywords":["medicine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86a32685408d7e12/698853675f570f0118b1bdbe/endo-pharmaceuticals-opana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86a32685408d7e12/698853675f570f0118b1bdbe/endo-pharmaceuticals-opana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Opana OxyContin Morphine Pain Killers Drugs","caption":"Opana OxyContin Morphine Pain Killers Drugs","creditText":"Rich Pedroncelli—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3998262/children-oxycontin/","name":"Children as Young as 11 Can Now Take OxyContin"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep?","description":"Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/o0FTMkL0/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-15T21:17:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/o0FTMkL0.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3998262/children-oxycontin/","duration":"PT2M25S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3998262/children-oxycontin/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```