That's 80 dollars for one 80 milligram pill, which is about 6 hours worth of a high for someone crushing and snorting it. Less time well per dollar spent if they're smoking or injecting them, more if it's being taken orally.

Also, keep in mind that Oxycontin was reformulated to be resistant to crushing, meaning that suddenly a lot of addicts were up shit creek without a paddle when they couldn't snort/smoke/inject or even chew the pill they just bought.

Heroin, on the other hand, is much cheaper, more potent, and more widely available than Oxycontin could ever hope to be.

When you're that deep in the hole of addiction, you start thinking of heroin not as evil, but as a cheap, potent substitute for the prescription pills you've been throwing money away on. It's a fucked up path that too many have walked.