Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 Source: Free Lance-Star, The (VA) Copyright: 2003 The Free Lance-Star Contact: http://fredericksburg.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1065 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) OXY-HIGH PAIN RELIEF is a good thing. For those suffering from cancer or other excruciating conditions, the comfort derived from properly prescribed medication can transform a hellish existence into one that is at least bearable. Unfortunately, the same little pill that offers bright hope also can have a dark side. OxyContin, a prescription pain reliever, is an example. After its introduction in 1996 by Purdue Pharma, OxyContin took off. Racking up over $1.5 billion in sales in 2001, the drug soared past Viagra, becoming the 18th most-prescribed drug on the market. With few side effects and a 12-hour release formulation, OxyContin helped many suffering individuals. But it was not long before some discovered that if the pill were chewed, crushed, snorted, or injected, a heroinlike high would result. An illegal demand for the drug emerged, especially in the eastern United States. Our area, alas, has not been exempt. The recent arrest of a Falmouth Volunteer Fire Department officer for allegedly selling the drug illegally sounds the alarm. The latest incident is one in a recent string of OxyContin-related crimes around the state. Someone robbed the King George Pharmacy for the pills in March. Doctors in McLean and Centreville have been under investigation for overprescribing it. And last November, The Plains Pharmacy in Fauquier County was closed for five hours while Drug Enforcement Administration officers searched for evidence. Later, the police broke up an 18-member OxyContin ring that stretched from Virginia to Tennessee (including a mother-son team who pleaded guilty to conspiring to rob the pharmacy). U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty of the Eastern District of Virginia told the Fauquier Times-Democrat, "OxyContin is a growing problem in the nation and this district. It is the fastest-growing prescribed narcotic and, at the same time, it is associated with abuse, overdose, violent crime, robbery, and pharmacy theft." Distributors obtain OxyContin illegally via forged prescriptions, doctor-shopping, and theft and from patients selling leftover pills. Users quickly become addicted. Most alarmingly, teens sometimes combine it with alcohol or other drugs in a deadly mix. Legislators are working on ways to track prescriptions for OxyContin. The manufacturer is trying to develop an abuse-proof form of the drug. Meanwhile, parents, teachers, patients, and medical professionals must be vigilant. The miracle painkiller can turn ugly when illegitimately used. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin