Pubdate: Sun, 27 May 2001
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2001 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Author: Doris Bloodsworth
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

DOSE OF DEATH: PAIN PILLS

The No. 1 killer drugs in Florida are not cocaine, heroin or Ecstasy. They 
are powerful new versions of oxycodone and hydrocodone, painkillers that 
state officials began tracking only this past July.

State records show that these twin synthetic forms of opium killed 152 
people from July to December last year. That compares with 129 deaths 
attributed to cocaine and 25 tied to Ecstasy in the same time period.

Nearly one out of three of those fatalities occurred in Central Florida. 
And as was true in the rest of the state, many of the dead were middle-aged 
professionals who got their first doses of the painkillers legally from 
their doctors. Sold under the brand names OxyContin, Vicodin, Lortabs, 
Percodan and Percocet, these narcotics have put a different face on drug abuse.

"Executives, cops, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers -- I've arrested them 
all," Orlando police Detective Lloyd Randolph said.

Many addicts say they started taking the pills after a back injury or oral 
surgery. And although painkillers have been around for years, Randolph said 
he has seen a definite increase in addicts in the past year. He gets 10 to 
15 calls a week from pharmacies and doctors reporting people hooked on 
oxycodone and hydrocodone.

"It's like somebody opened Pandora's box, and it's running rampant now," he 
said.

Available records show that of the 46 men in Central Florida who died from 
these narcotics, 30 were ages 35 to 50. Only eight Central Florida women died.

Drugmaker takes action

Randolph recalls one Orlando veterinarian who was arrested after taking 
hundreds of hydrocodone tablets daily. The vet supplied himself through 
prescriptions written under the names of his patients' pets.

Two weeks ago, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., suspended 
distribution of its largest-dose 160-milligram tablets, prompted by reports 
of more than 120 deaths nationwide tied to its time-release form of oxycodone.

"We've developed a 10-point plan to try and curb illegal use," company 
spokesman James Heins said. "Meanwhile, we felt it was prudent to take it 
off the market."

That powerful dose of OxyContin has become the drug of choice for many 
addicts who crush the tablets and snort them, which produces an intense 
euphoria that can prove fatal.

A Lake Mary man knows about the problem first-hand.

Six years ago, Philip was making good money installing car-stereo systems. 
He and his wife divided their time between their South Florida home and 
visits to his parents in Central Florida.

Then he hurt his back at work and a doctor prescribed the painkiller 
Vicodin. Philip, who had never had a problem with alcohol or drugs, became 
hooked. Before long, he was playing one doctor off another to get more 
drugs, until he was taking as many as 80 painkillers a day. Eventually, at 
the suggestion of a street dealer, he started using heroin.

"It's definitely a different kind of addiction," said Philip, who asked 
that his last name not be used to protect his family and livelihood. "The 
fact that it starts out legal, someone gives you a 'permission slip' and 
your insurance pays for it, makes it easy."

Although no figures exist to show how many people nationally are hooked on 
oxycodone and hydrocodone, an estimated 9 million people used prescription 
drugs for nonmedical reasons in 1999.

Philip, 30, now is working hard to regain his life, having just completed a 
11/2-year program at a methadone clinic.

"I feel like I've lost so much," he said. "It's terrible to see the kind of 
destruction I've caused."

Jody Scott, clinical director at the Center for Drug Free Living in 
Orlando, called oxycodone and hydrocodone the "painkillers du jour." Of the 
center's roughly 180 methadone clients, about a third are prescription-drug 
abusers, she said.

Addicts Have Strategies

Randolph, who advises police agencies around the state about 
prescription-drug enforcement, said catching the abusers is difficult.

Addicts use several strategies, including stealing prescription pads, 
making copies of legitimate prescriptions or creating their own 
prescriptions on home computers. Most pharmacy chains don't have the 
databases to sound an alarm if the same patient is getting narcotics from 
more than one of their stores, Randolph said.

Dr. Dev Chacko, chairman of Florida Hospital's psychiatric department, said 
many of the addicts he treats say they have no difficulty getting dozens of 
pills by juggling doctors, often in different cities. One drug counselor 
said that while some doctors are "stingy" with prescriptions for pain 
pills, "others write them like it was candy."

Ross Frazier, a spokesman for the American Medical Association in Chicago, 
said the organization does not yet have an official policy responding to 
the oxycodone and hydrocodone problem.

"Pain-medicine abuse is not coming from people who get them legitimately," 
he said. "Most are getting them illegally."

A mini-crime wave has flourished in Central Florida to support the growing 
demand for these drugs.

Brevard County authorities recently charged three men with a string of 
pharmacy robberies in which painkillers were taken at gunpoint. Deputies 
found two bottles of OxyContin when they searched the suspects.

Two University of Florida students will go in front of a judge June 4 to 
face manslaughter charges over the death of classmate Matthew Kaminer. 
Authorities said Ying Che Lo, 19, stole OxyContin from the drugstore where 
he worked. He gave one of the tablets to his roommate, Naeem Diamond 
Lakhani, 19, who in turn gave it to Kaminer, police said. The 18-year-old 
took the pill along with a few drinks, and he died the next day.

4 Doctors, 6 Pharmacies

Philip knew all the tricks. At one time, he was going to four doctors and 
six pharmacies, while he hid the addiction from his wife. He secretly kept 
his drugs at work. At day's end, he would take enough pills to get him 
through the night, then pray he wouldn't throw up and go into withdrawal.

On the occasions when his wife found pills in his pockets, he would promise 
to kick the habit. He tried a detox clinic. But within days, he was forging 
prescriptions and buying painkillers on the street. That's when his dealer 
suggested using heroin instead.

"I couldn't afford to buy enough pills," said Philip, who explained the 
cost ate through his salary in no time. The current street-level price for 
OxyContin has zoomed to $40 to $65 a pill, police said. Legally, these same 
pills can cost anywhere from less than a dollar for the least powerful to 
about $8 a pill for the stronger varieties.

But Philip had other problems.

With prescription pills, he had some control. At the height of his 
addiction, 10 pills would last four hours. It was "easy math," he said.

But heroin sent him into a haze. There was no fooling co-workers or his 
family. He realized he would have to make radical changes or die.

He left his job and his wife and moved into his mother's Windermere home. 
He entered the Center for Drug Free Living's methadone treatment program 
and started climbing out of his drug-induced hell.

Today, he's clean, back at work and reunited with his wife.

Philip hopes his story will alert others who don't realize they could be 
traveling down a deadly path.

Randolph, the police detective, shares the same concern.

"It's a sleeping giant," Randolph said. "People don't realize it can kill them."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager