OxyContin Invasion

DEA DRUG-TRACKING LEADS TO AN ARREST

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration keeps a computerized eye on
oxycodone, the family of painkilling drugs that includes OxyContin,
tracking it and other controlled substances from manufacturer to pharmacy
to patient.

After Dr. Richard G. Paolino was arrested in March, investigators pulled
the DEA's drug-audit records for the five-county Philadelphia area for
2000. They learned that a pharmacy near Paolino's office was receiving and
dispensing a large amount of oxycodone products.

So much, in fact, that Shelly's Pharmacy No. 8 in Bristol Township ranked
third among pharmacies selling such drugs in the five counties.

Using confidential informants, agents took a closer look at Shelly's No. 8.
On April 25, the manager of that store, pharmacist Lewis Winokur, 63, was
arrested on charges that he was illegally dispensing OxyContin and other
painkillers. Investigators have not directly linked Winokur's and Paolino's
alleged activities.

Winokur pleaded not guilty earlier this month to charges that he created
fake prescription forms by computer at his home in North Wales, Montgomery
County, and sold the blank forms at his store for $50 to $100 each. Agents
say he provided the names of real patients and doctors before filling those
prescriptions with OxyContin and other controlled substances.

One of Winokur's colleagues, pharmacist Steve Chesin, of Shelly's No. 4 in
Bensalem, helped agents in the Paolino case. Investigators would later find
dozens of Paolino prescriptions in Winokur's store, many of them filled by
Winokur. Also found were prescription forms signed by two doctors, David E.
Harmon and Wesley Collier, who have testified they signed blank
prescriptions for Paolino.

At his hearing, Winokur said he had never met Paolino. Through his
attorney, Robert A. Rovner, he has denied filling any of Paolino's
prescriptions. Winokur has posted $250,000 bail and is awaiting trial.

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