OXYCONTIN: ABUSING FAD DRUG CAN KILL

Quietly over the last two or three years, some people in Moore County have
begun abusing OxyContin, a prescription pain reliever.

According to officers, abusers crush the drug to snort, chew or inject it.
The crushing defeats the pill's timed-release design and allows the abuser
to get a fast, heroin-type high.

OxyContin is the strongest and longest-lasting pain reliever on the market.
If taken properly, it can provide about 12 hours of relief from pain.

OxyContin is a Schedule II controlled substance. That means it is approved
for medical use, but has the highest abuse potential among controlled
substances approved for medical use.

In the past year, officers have made several OxyContin-related arrests,
most for prescription fraud. Also, there were two armed robberies of
pharmacies on back-to-back nights in February, during which the robber
(believed by police to be the same person in both robberies) demanded only
OxyContin.

After the first robbery, which took place at Kerr Drug in Carthage, the
Kerr management posted signs that informed people that the store no longer
stocked OxyContin. It did this in hopes of avoiding future robberies.

The first robbery occurred on Feb. 16. The robber was armed with a black
handgun. According to eyewitnesses, he demanded OxyContin by showing the
handgun and saying, "Here's my prescription."

The next night, police believe, the same person tried to rob the Eckard's
store on N.C. 5 in Aberdeen. The person asked for OxyContin and threatened
the pharmacist but left without taking anything.

Aberdeen Police and Moore County Sheriff's Deputies arrested Darrin
Wilkinson at his home on Feb. 19 and charged him with the two crimes.
According to police reports, officers found him with self-inflicted wounds
to both wrists. They took him to the hospital, where he recovered from his
wounds, and then placed him in the Moore County Jail.

Wilkinson's case is still pending. It is scheduled for Dec. 31.

In addition, authorities have linked two overdose deaths to OxyContin abuse
since the beginning of 2000.

David Scott Wall, 24, died at the White Horse Motel in Carthage on July 19,
2000. Police reports state that officers found a used syringe in the room,
along with several bottles of prescription medicine, including OxyContin.

The medical examiner later ruled that the cause of death was oxycodone
toxicity caused by injecting OxyContin. Oxycodone is the active ingredient
in OxyContin.

On Sept. 11, 2001, a woman died of an OxyContin overdose. County Medical
Examiner Max Muse said the woman was a known drug abuser and had been
injecting the drug like heroin. She obtained OxyContin with a prescription
to help treat pain from AIDS.

Muse did not want to reveal the woman's identity. He added that abusing
OxyContin "might get you in trouble - it got her killed."

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, OxyContin is made by
Purdue Pharma and is a narcotic that produces opiate-like effects. The
active ingredient, oxycodone, is found in smaller amounts in other
painkillers like Percocet, Percodan and Tylox. All of these are in the same
family of drugs as codeine, methadone, heroin and morphine. They are
described as either synthetic versions or derivatives of morphine.

Since 2000, the DEA has been asking medical examiners to report any
oxycodone-positive deaths. The DEA also says that abuse has been the
highest on the East Coast.

On the street, OxyContin is referred to as Oxy's, OC's, Killers, Poor Man's
Heroin or Hillbilly Heroin, says the DEA's Drug Intelligence Brief. An
80-mg tablet obtained for $6 legally can cost between $65 and $80 on the
street.

When Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the DEA, testified before a House
Appropriations subcommittee Dec. 11, 2001, he said North Carolina had the
17th-highest rate of OxyContin abuse in the country at the time.

DEA officials say there are many ways in which people illegally obtain
OxyContin, the most popular of which is called "doctor-shopping." A person
with a real or feigned ailment will visit several doctors at a time and
obtain prescriptions from all of them. Other ways are through prescription
fraud, robberies, burglaries and theft.

This is another case of a drug being popular because it's not trafficked
into the area, Moore County Sheriff Lane Carter says. What makes this drug
popular now is that - unlike cocaine and heroin, which have to be
transported to the area - this drug is here already.

But Carter thinks the problems with OxyContin abuse are slowing down.

"Six months ago, it was worse than it is now," Carter said. "Drugs come in
phases. In the '60s it was marijuana. In the '70s it was cocaine. In the
'80s, crack. We just keep up with what's happening and try to combat it."

Detective Lt. W.J. Seawell, in charge of the narcotics department of the
Sheriff's Department, said abusers are defeating the time-release mechanism.

"That's the problem with it," he said. "It's strong medication even when
taken as prescribed."

One law-enforcement officer who did not want to be identified said that the
only way to stop the abuse is to keep doctors from prescribing OxyContin.

"I don't think law-enforcement has any means to control it," the officer
said. "It has to come from the medical side. As long as doctors keep
prescribing it, people will keep getting addicted."

Muse, the medical examiner who has had to oversee OxyContin-related deaths,
has taken the drug as prescribed before. OxyContin is a wonderful drug when
used as prescribed, he said.

"It works very well, and it's long-lasting," Muse says. "If you take it
properly, it's the best thing since sliced bread."