HEROIC DOPEHEADS?

Substance abusers have a problem the rest of us should be penalized for.
That seems to be the liberal view, anyway.

The New York Times Magazine just featured a cover story about OxyContin, a
prescription wonder drug for chronic pain caused by cancer, other diseases
and injuries.

Some rural-area drug abusers discovered they could get high by crushing
OxyContin pills (thwarting the time-release mechanism) and snorting the
powder. This sparked a wave of abuse.

Unverified media reports of deaths attributed to OxyContin abuse surfaced,
spawning a new species of "victim," the "hillbilly heroin" addict.

But the reports are suspect. Typically, the victims also abused other
drugs. The Kentucky state medical examiner wrote, "I am unaware of any
reliable data . . . that proves OxyContin is causing a lot of deaths . . .
We are seeing an increase in the number of deaths from ingesting several
different prescription drugs and mixing them with alcohol. OxyContin is
sometimes one of those drugs." But why let facts clutter a gripping liberal
saga?

The Times' story portrays users and dealers sympathetically. "It's so weird
the people that got into this. Some of them were innocent mothers . . . one
who was in her 60s. She never did drugs,. She'd sell every last one of her
pills, and . . . pay for all her other medication," said a trafficker named
"Curt," - incidentally, "a man of boundless energy and focus."

What's boundless is the Times' unmitigated sympathy for drug abusers.

Poor "B.," who "looked like every disaffected college kid in America," was
a model of virtue. After reports of abuse made doctors anxious about
prescribing the drug, supplies dried up and prices rose. Did B. quit? Nope.
He economized. "I switched to heroin. You get really high off . . . 30
bucks a day. That's a big savings," said "B."

Of course, addiction is never the addict's fault. "Andy" told the Times,
"If I'd never touched OxyContin, I wouldn't have done heroin."

"OxyContin entered the lives of the casual drug users as a Trojan horse . .
. [they] think of pain pills as just another interesting diversion for a
Saturday night," continued the Times.

Who does the Times blame for OxyContin abuse? The manufacturer.

The Times scoffed at a $50 million reformulation effort to make abuse more
difficult. It downplayed and ignored outreach efforts to doctors,
pharmacies and law enforcement.

The liberals' misplaced blame is contagious.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, normally concerned with illegal drug
dealers, threatens to force a 95 percent cutback in OxyContin production. A
rural doctor is petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to ban
OxyContin. Trial lawyers already are suing.

The Times' "sympathy for the devil" has a price, though. The real victims
are pain patients who may lose a useful medication. The FDA is pressuring
doctors about OxyContin. Given the agency's ready-fire-aim track record
with silicone breast implants, diet drugs and other pharmaceuticals, it's a
matter of time before OxyContin disappears, too.

And what about pain patients? The Times didn't mention one.

The OxyContin controversy is a liberal's dream come true. Sympathetic -
almost heroic - dopeheads avenged by bureaucrats and trial lawyers swarming
all over the greedy and malfeasant drug company.

It's a nightmare for the rest of us.