APPROACH COULD HELP WITH OTHER FAD DRUG ISSUES

Drug dealers peddling OxyContin and abusers craving the powerful painkiller
will stop at nothing. They'll break into pharmacies and physician's
offices, steal pads and forge prescriptions, go from doctor's office to
doctor's office faking symptoms and feign illness at emergency rooms to get
the drug.

Since it surfaced in the commonwealth two years ago as a growing drug of
abuse, illegal OxyContin use in eastern Kentucky has reached epidemic
proportions and spread to other parts of the state. Dozens of deaths have
been attributed to its misuse. Authorities report more than 600 arrests for
trafficking or abuse this year alone.

Clearly tighter controls, tougher enforcement and better education about
the drug's dangers are needed.

A task force, formed by Gov. Paul Patton in February, has come up with some
good starting points to rein in on illegal prescriptions for OxyContin.

The task force recommends requiring whoever presents or picks up the
prescription to show a photo ID or thumbprint, no longer allowing
physicians to phone in prescriptions, limiting prescriptions written by
emergency-room doctors to a three-day supply and making better use of the
state's computer system that tracks prescription drugs.

The task force's aim is to make it impossible for people to get the drug
for illegal use while not impeding those who need it from getting their
prescriptions filled.

Halting the illegal use of OxyContin will require smart controls on how
prescriptions of the drug are dispensed.

It also will require better use of the state's computer tracking system by
physicians, pharmacists and law enforcement, including requiring same-day
entry of prescription purchases rather than the current 15-day window to
record the data.

And it will require better education about the dangers of the drug and
stepped-up enforcement.

Rep. Gross Lindsay, D-Henderson, complained about singling out OxyContin,
which he said his late wife used to ease her pain. After recently hearing
the task force recommendations, he said abuse of OxyContin is today's fad
and soon "some other drug will become the fad." But that's just the point.

If by working together, physicians, pharmacists and law enforcement can
keep OxyContin out of the hands of dealers and abusers, the same measures
can be used to halt the illegal use of other prescription drugs.