CURBING ABUSE

Panel Does Not Limit Recommendations
To Just The Problem Of Oxycontin

A state task force appointed to study the abuse of OxyContin has issued a
list of recommendations that wisely include other prescription drugs
classified as "controlled substances" and not just OxyContin.

The goal is not to keep OxyContin and other controlled substances out of
the hands of those who really need the drugs but to curb the abuse of a
painkiller that has been linked to dozens of deaths in the state. More than
600 Kentuckians - including a number of physicians - have been arrested on
charges of trafficking in OxyContin.

The problem, however, is not limited to that one drug.

"It really is a prescription drug problem, not just OxyContin," Kentucky
State Police Commissioner Ishmon Burks told the General Assembly's interim
Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Gross Lindsay, D-Henderson, warned against singling out OxyContin,
which he said his late wife used to ease her pain.

"On the one hand, people need this medication in the worst sort of a way
and we don't want to impede that," agreed Dr. Rice Leach, Kentucky's health
commissioner.

Among the task force's 31 recommendations are tighter restrictions on those
who prescribe and pick up controlled substances. Prescriptions telephoned
from a physician to a pharmacy would be banned for controlled substances,
though not for more routine medications such as those for high blood pressure.

People picking up prescriptions would have to provide photo identification
to pharmacies, though third parties could still pick up medications for
others. The task force also recommended restricting the authority to
prescribe some medications by emergency room doctors to a three-day supply.

Another recommendation by the task force would be to ensure that people who
use public assistance programs to purchase drugs for abuse should be taken
off assistance rolls and forced to repay the costs of improper
prescriptions. The task force also recommends updating a statewide computer
tracking system for prescriptions to inhibit people who go to several
physicians to get multiple doses of drugs to abuse.

Just how much Kentucky can do to limit the abuse of OxyContin remains to be
seen. This is a national problem that demands the attention of the Food and
Drug Administration and Congress. States typically have not played a major
role in controlling prescription drugs.

The task force's report is emphatic about the seriousness of OxyContin
abuse in Kentucky: "By the fall of 2000, abuse of this drug had grown to
epidemic proportions. OxyContin had become the Number One drug of choice,
surpassing marijuana and cocaine."

Such a serious problem demands aggressive enforcement, more public
education and a combination of federal and state laws to effectively curb.