U.S. SENATOR ASKS FOR HEARINGS ON OXYCONTIN ABUSE

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is asking the Senate's Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions committee to hold a hearing to address what
he called an emerging crisis of OxyContin abuse. In a letter sent to Sen.
Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., the committee chairman, Warner said the seriousness
of OxyContin abuse, and the important medical benefits of the painkiller
when appropriately prescribed, are reasons the committee should undertake a
careful review of the issues.

"OxyContin is a profoundly addictive central-nervous-system depressant that
was hailed as a miracle pain reliever for chronic pain or terminal illness
suffers when it first became available in 1996," Warner said. "Clearly,
though, the benefits that the drug provides to patients also make it a
target for abuse." Forty-three known OxyContin-related deaths have occurred
in Virginia, Warner said.

Southwest Virginia and parts of nearby Kentucky and West Virginia are
experiencing a crime wave as addicts seek to obtain the drug, he said.

The senator said a bottle of 100 40-mg pills sells for $400 in a pharmacy
but nets $4,000 on the street. "Despite the street cost, the pain reliever
has become the drug of choice in many areas, according to federal
investigators," Warner said. "The Drug Enforcement Agency reports no other
prescription drug over the last 20 years has been illegally abused by so
many people so soon after it was released."

Since February 1999, thieves have demanded OxyContin in at least 10
pharmacy robberies in Tazewell County, leading many drugstores to post
signs stating they no longer carry it, Warner said. According to the Lee
County Coalition for Health, 10 percent of Lee County seventh-graders and
20 percent of the county's high-school seniors have tried OxyContin, he
said. OxyContin abuse and crimes associated with it extend well beyond
Virginia, Warner said. Repeated incidents of OxyContin abuse and crime are
turning up in Maine, Tennessee, Ohio, Maryland and Louisiana, he said.