OxyContin® as currency: OxyContin® use and increased social capital among rural Appalachian drug users

► Suggests that certain drugs might elevate frequent users to positions of high social capital within drug use networks. ► Identifies daily OxyContin® users as highly connected to other drug users in rural Appalachia and in turn, having greater social capital. ► Uses social network analysis to examine the relationship of frequent drug use and social capital. ► Intervention in such populations must take into account norms of frequent drug usage as a legitimate path to social capital. ► Provides data on the extent of nonmedical prescription opioid use in networks within rural Appalachia.