OXYCONTIN REPORT: STATE'S LACK OF MONEY BLOCKS PATH TO BEST SOLUTION

The most valuable recommendation from a state task force on OxyContin abuse
also is the least likely to happen.

Not because anyone opposes increased treatment for addicts. Not
because it wouldn't pay for itself by reducing crime and prison costs.
Certainly not because the OxyContin crisis hasn't burdened an already
overloaded treatment system, especially in rural Kentucky.

Increased treatment won't happen because it would cost money, and the
state is scrambling just to make ends meet.

To help deal with the state's revenue shortfall, Gov. Paul Patton
recently cut $4.2 million from mental-health programs. Even before
that cut, Kentucky ranked 44th among states in per capita
mental-health spending, including treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

OxyContin, a godsend for many sufferers of chronic pain, is a
powerfully addictive drug when used illegally. It has killed scores of
people, spawned a rash of pharmacy burglaries and shredded the social
fabric of small towns in Eastern Kentucky.

Its rapid illicit spread through Appalachia has turned it into "the
Number One drug of choice, surpassing marijuana and cocaine,"
according to the task force report.

But long before OxyContin came along, Eastern Kentucky had a serious
problem with prescription drug abuse. OxyContin abuse spread so
rapidly because illicit channels for buying and selling prescription
painkillers already were well established. Untreated alcoholism also
takes a heavy toll.

About 60 percent of those in Kentucky prisons fit the diagnostic
profile of an addict, but the prisons have resources to treat just 19
percent of them. Felons in county jails have limited or no access to
treatment.

A legislative commission is working on a plan for improving services
for substance abusers, the mentally ill and the huge population that
falls into both categories.

The commission envisioned a decade-long effort that would move
Kentucky to 25th among the states in mental-health spending, beginning
with a $25 million increase in each of the next two years.

The needs are obvious. It's also obvious that little can be done until
the legislature modernizes a tax structure through which the economy's
growing sectors now escape taxation.

Meanwhile, the revolving door of addiction, jail and ruined lives
keeps turning.