Pubdate: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 Source: Leesburg Today (VA) Copyright: 1998-2002 Content Produced by Leesburg Today Newspaper Contact: http://www.leesburg2day.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2066 Author: Teresa Brumback LOCAL FORUM EXAMINES OXYCONTIN ABUSE If it wouldn't have been for OxyContin-the hottest selling retail prescription painkiller on the market-Brian Patrick Elero might be alive today, according to his aunt Gail B. Higgins of Waterford. Virginia law enforcement authorities might have been able to reach him in time had they had available a medical database listing OxyContin users and their doctors. The database could help uncover cases in which patients would "doctor shop" for physicians to prescribe potent painkillers in Virginia and other states, getting more than what they need in lethal and fatal combinations. What they don't use themselves they sometimes sell to a growing underground network, according to law enforcement representatives. OxyContin has been dubbed the next crack cocaine. Elero, a 1999 graduate of Loudoun Valley High School who was attending Virginia Commonwealth University, suffered pain following surgeries and began taking Percodan and other painkillers including OxyContin a few years ago. He went into a rehabilitation program twice in Loudoun, but it didn't work. He was hooked for life. The 20-year-old looked on the Internet and learned how to commit suicide, taking an overdose of OxyContin and jumping off a bridge. He died Oct. 29, 2001. "There needs to be monitoring between doctors," Higgins said. "It started out with legal doctor shopping. He would go to seven doctors and get what he wanted." All he had to do was say he had recurring migraines to get the doctors to prescribe the painkillers, she said. Higgins was among those in the audience of about 60 elected and law enforcement representatives and citizens and doctors from Loudoun and other jurisdictions at a forum concerning the illegal use of OxyContin sponsored by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-VA-10) today in Leesburg. Speakers included Virginia Deputy Attorney General Bradley B. Cavedo and Laura Nagel, deputy assistant administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Dr. Howard A. Heit of Fairfax praised the forum and pending Virginia legislation to create a database of OxyContin users. With that information, he could ascertain if a patient has an addiction to painkillers. If he suspected criminal intent he could notify law enforcement. "The prescription monitoring program is important for Virginia," he said. Cavedo said the bill is on Gov. Mark Warner's (D) desk and is expected to be signed. It would go into effect in 18 months, he said. But the bill would only involve a database of criminal investigations underway for OxyContin abuse and individuals' names would be listed in those circumstances. The database, however, wouldn't show all patients legally taking prescriptions of OxyContin and wouldn't show if they are taking multiple prescriptions from different doctors in Virginia and other states. Loudoun County Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson (R) said the drug has the potential to be the number one choice for drug abusers. "What we're seeing in surrounding jurisdictions is scary. It's very new for Loudoun County," he said. Robberies at three pharmacies were for OxyContin and the widely publicized and a slaying near Keys Gap was believed to be related to OxyContin though it hasn't been proven, he said. "We have some street-level cases we're working," Simpson said, and some that involve the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. On the street the drug goes for about $40 for a 40-milligram tablet or $80 for an 80 milligram pill. Armed robbers stole more than 5,000 tablets of OxyContin in recent weeks, including at the Safeway CVS store and Eckerd Pharmacy stores in Sterling. "The briefing is designed to help better educate the community about the illegal use of OxyContin, particularly in light of the recent robberies of pharmacies in Loudoun and Fairfax counties," Wolf said. "Imagine going into your local pharmacy, drug store or grocery store to pick up a prescription and witnessing an armed robbery in broad daylight. It's happening." Banning the drug isn't under discussion in Congress, Wolf said, adding he sees a solution if all states adopt prescription monitoring programs to prevent abuse of the drug. Wolf's appropriations subcommittee on Commerce-Justice-State and the Judiciary is pushing the DEA to develop a more aggressive plan to combat the illegal use of the drug. The panel also set aside $2 million in this year's spending bill for the Justice Department for a grant program to help states develop a prescription drug monitoring system. Ideally, he said the programs would be aimed at monitoring prescription painkillers. The subcommittee also has asked the General Accounting Office and the Inspector General of Health and Human Services to look into the marketing practices of the makers of OxyContin. Wolf sees a positive sign with manufacturers reformulating the drug to reduce chances for its abuse. The illegal use of the prescription drug took hold in southwest Virginia last year and has been slowly worming its way up I-81 to northern Virginia, Wolf said. While hailed as a wonder drug for the terminally ill and for people with chronic, debilitating pain, the drug is gaining wide popularity among abusers who chew, snort or inject the drug for a euphoric, heroin-like high. While it is sold as a 12-hour time release pill, it is crushed to produce powerful feeling of euphoria in users. The drug is opium-based. It has the highest retail sales of all brand-name prescription drugs, DEA representatives said. Between May of 2000 and December 2001, 296 deaths have been attributed to overdoses of OxyContin. In Virginia, 49 people died between January 2000 and June 20001 as a direct result of overdoses. Problems with OxyContin's abuse could be whipped if all states have a prescription drug monitoring program and database, Wolf said. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens