Pubdate: Fri, 18 May 2001 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 2001 Richmond Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.timesdispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365 Author: Rex Bowman, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer ABUSE OF DRUG 'GETTING WORSE' ABINGDON - A state task force trying to stem abuse of the painkiller OxyContin is considering a multipronged approach that includes tracking prescriptions, toughening penalties for illegal dealers and treating addicts. But in their first meeting since Attorney General Mark L. Earley formed the task force, members said yesterday they think the scourge of death, addiction and crime brought upon Southwest Virginia by abuse of the synthetic morphine is worsening. "The problem is not getting better," said task force member and Tazewell County prosecutor Dennis Lee, who estimates that nearly 38 percent of crime in Tazewell is linked to the illicit trade of the drug. "For every [illegal dealer] we're picking up, there are probably hundreds we are not picking up," said Lee County prosecutor Tammy McElyea. "It's getting worse." Dr. William Massello, assistant chief medical examiner from Roanoke, told the task force that autopsies suggest that as many as 43 Virginians have overdosed on OxyContin since 1998, 37 of them in far Southwest Virginia. Though the drug is meant to give users long-lasting relief from moderate to severe pain, abusers have found they can get high instantly by crushing it and snorting it, or by dissolving it in water and injecting it. However, the abuse can be fatal, because of the large doses of the drug's main ingredient, the opioid oxycodone. Law enforcement officials told the task force members yesterday that residents in the coalfields continue to rob, steal and forge checks and prescriptions to obtain the drug illegally. Their addiction has also led to a thriving "guns for drugs" trade. Meanwhile, Deborah May, marketing director of the Life Center of Galax, a drug treatment clinic, said a recent survey of patients in the methadone treatment program found that seven were trying to kick a heroin habit, while 243 were hooked on OxyContin. The drug's maker, Purdue Pharma L.P. of Connecticut, is taking aggressive steps to curb abuse of its drug, which has continued to sell despite a barrage of negative publicity surrounding its abuse. Yesterday, Dr. J. David Haddox, senior medical director with Purdue Pharma, announced that the company has stopped shipping 40mg OxyContin tablets to Mexico after reports that the drug was being diverted and rerouted back to the United States. The move comes one week after the company announced that it would stop distributing its strongest OxyContin pill, of 160mg. And two weeks ago, Purdue Pharma began sending its sales managers out to talk to doctors in 100 counties around the country deemed potential sites of OxyContin abuse. "Our sales representatives are telling our clients, 'Don't prescribe OxyContin unless you can do it right,'" Haddox said. Authorities say some doctors are overprescribing the drug, giving it to clients who sell it on the street for $1 per milligram. OxyContin abuse has become a problem in isolated pockets of the nation, though primarily in remote areas along the Appalachian mountains. Law enforcement and company officials first noticed a problem early last year in Maine, then in Southwest Virginia. Yesterday, the 25-member task force bandied about several ideas on how to eliminate OxyContin abuse, the most popular of which was the creation of a system to track every prescription written for drugs prone to abuse. Kentucky created such a system several years ago, and investigations that once took 140 days now take 20 days, said Landon Gibbs, assistant special agent in charge of the Virginia State Police unit assigned to prescription-drug fraud. "I know of no other system that will work better than a prescription monitoring system," Gibbs said. "It's the most important thing we can do." The committee also pondered toughening sentences for those caught illegally distributing OxyContin. Dealers are typically given a suspended sentence or one year in jail, according to local prosecutors. Those prosecutors suggested new laws lengthening state prison sentences for dealers. They also suggested turning more cases over to federal courts, where judges can send a dealer to prison for five years if he happens to own a gun, or 20 years to life if he has five people working for him. However, some task force members said that, ultimately, helping people beat their addictions to OxyContin will be one of the task force's biggest jobs. "If we took all the OxyContin off the street tomorrow, we'd still have thousands of people addicted who are going to have to be treated," said task force member Gary Parsons, sheriff of Lee County. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom