LEGISLATURE WEIGHS OXYCONTIN THEFTS AGAINST BENEFITS

Before OxyContin, showering was a dreaded part of Gregg Needham's morning
routine.

After he fell 21/2 stories in a burning building four years ago, shattering
bones in his legs and back, Needham, a former captain of the Worcester Fire
Department, said the pressure of the water was like "a thousand pinpoints
burning into my back."

"I tried everything, and still couldn't even stand because of the pain"
Needham said. "With OxyContin I'm 95-percent pain-free."

As members of the state Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Safety deal
with benefits and dangers of the powerful painkiller, they listened
yesterday to the myriad voices of people in the OxyContin debate.

At a committee hearing, doctors, patients, and the drug's maker testified
against attempts to severely limit access to the drug, which has been
blamed for increased addiction problems, and to 37 robberies in six months.

"Please don't take this drug away," Needham said.

However, officials representing terrified pharmacists together with police,
expressed fears that without added restriction on access to the drug,
robberies might soon turn deadly.

"People are scared," said Bernard Rogan, a spokesman for Shaw's and Star
Markets, explaining why the chains recently stopped stocking the drug. "We
were afraid we were putting" customers and pharmacists in danger.

Police recommended increasing the security classificiation for the drug, to
require a pharmacist to call a person's doctor before it is sold. This
would allow pharmacies not to stock it, and would permit judges to sentence
an unauthorized recipient of the drug for a first simple possession.

Vincent J. Mazzilli, a special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement
Administration's New England diversion unit, and others offered evidence of
the increase in drug addiction caused by abuse of OxyContin.

"Emergency room episodes nationwide have doubled since 1996 when OxyContin
first appeared," he said. "It's considered a white-collar drug, and abuse
has risen in all ethnic groups."

And officials from the state Office of Public Safety said that until six
months ago, Massachusetts State Police detectives had never handled a case
in which OxyContin stolen from a pharmacy had been sold illegally on the
street. But in the past six months there have been 100 such cases.

For their part, committee members spent the day listening to the two sides
and pitching possible solutions.

"OxyContin abuse is a very serious problem, and it's just a question of
when an incident is going to turn violent and a customer or pharmacist is
going to get hurt," said Senator James Jajuga, a Methuen Democrat who sits
on the joint committee. "But the committee is sensitive to the fact that
this drug is a miracle drug for people in serious pain."

Legislators suggested outfitting pharmacies with bullet-proof glass,
restricting OxyContin to a mail-order system, requiring special
identification cards for patients, and increasing the penalties for
stealing the drug.

The suggestions received mixed reviews from people at the hearing that
largely followed the views they had held in the debate.

Though bulletproof glass would protect pharmacies, the state public safety
secretary, Jane Perlov, cautioned that such a measure might make customers
and pharmacists feel uncomfortable.

She also said that moving OxyContin to a higher security classificiation to
stiffen sentences for its abuse could excessively restrict access.

Similarly, identification cards would make the drug more difficult to
obtain for everyone, including patients who often rely on others to get
their prescriptions.

The Boston City Council is expected to hear testimony this morning from the
Boston Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston
Public Health Commission, local pharmacists and the public.