EARLEY ALWAYS HAS HAD OXYCONTIN CONCERNS

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Mark Warner's campaign recently said that, as
Attorney General, Mark Earley didn't even put out a simple press
release on the abuse of OxyContin until after 40 Virginians had died.
This is simply false, and Warner should be ashamed for trying to make
political hay out of the suffering we have experienced in Southwest
Virginia over the abuse of OxyContin.

Earley was quick to respond to the problem. We talked to him about
the problem when he visited Lee County long before Virginians had
died. He immediately wrote to the manufacturer of OxyContin demanding
a meeting to discuss the drug's effects on Southwest Virginia and
ways to address the abuse and destruction it was causing. Earley then
established a statewide task force on prescription-drug abuse - on
which we serve - to study and make recommendations to the Attorney
General and the legislature to help solve some of our problems. He
also established a national task force on OxyContin through the
National Association of Attorneys General to address the problem on a
broader level.

We could not have asked for a more effective response to the problem
of OxyContin than what we got from Earley. For Warner's campaign to
make such a false charge about this serious problem shows that Warner
does not understand the drug-abuse problem or how to deal with it
effectively.

Gary Parsons, Sheriff, Lee County;
Tammy McElyea, Commonwealth's Attorney, Lee County. Jonesville.