On the street, users don't inject it, the way they do (and did) with heroin, avoiding all sorts of health complications (especially HIV transmission); and they get it by Limbaugh-style doctor-shopping rather than buying heroin from street dealers and committing crime to pay for it.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2009/02/the-good-side-of-oxycontin-addiction/206102/
