LOCAL OXYCONTIN ABUSE FOLLOWS TREND

North Texans have jumped on a rickety
drug-abuse bandwagon, often with a doctor's prescription in hand, law
enforcement and drug treatment officials said. The powerful drug
Oxycontin, for instance, became the prescription painkiller of choice
to abuse during the last year in Wichita Falls, officials said. Local
Oxycontin abuse follows a nationwide trend. "The effects of the drug
and the withdrawal are almost the same as heroin," said Dr. Donn
Leuzinger, medical director for The Treatment Center. Leuzinger, a
certified addictionologist, oversees detoxification for the drug
treatment facility. Drug abusers crush time-released Oxycontin
tablets, injecting the substance like heroin or inhaling it, according
to an article from About.com, The Human Internet. A powerful high
descends on the abuser.

Oxycontin is a favorite because the time-released tablets contain
larger doses than other drugs like Vicodin. The medication belongs to
the drug family including Darvon, Vicodin, Dilaudid and Demerol,
according to NIDA, a part of the National Institutes of Health. The
painkillers cling to receptors in the brain to block pain. A Wichita
Falls family practice physician is a seasoned veteran in fighting the
prescription drug wars. "We're caught between two worlds," said Dr.
Keith Williamson, university physician for the Vinson Health Center at
Midwestern State University. "The pain management world tells you
(that) you have to be very aggressive in managing pain. There are
lawsuits to that effect." But abuse and diversion of prescription
drugs is also a concern, Williamson said. He hasn't treated patients
for chronic pain since leaving the Clinics of North Texas nine months
ago for his present position. But Williamson has some not-so-fond memories.

"People are very aggressive and resourceful about seeking drugs if
they're addicted to pain medicine," he said. "I've had people approach
me while I was doing yard work to ask me for drugs for headaches."
That includes "upstanding people in the community," he said.
Williamson also had to "fire" patients because he discovered they were
abusing drugs such as Valium, tapping five or six doctors for pills.

And prescription pads have been stolen from his office. Oxycontin
requires a prescription in triplicate from a state-issued pad, he
said. One copy stays in the doctor's office, one goes to the pharmacy
and another to the state.

The prescription is not refillable and is only good for seven days
after it's issued. Physicians must have an identification number from
the Drug Enforcement Agency to prescribe opioids such as Oxycontin,
Williamson said. Still, drug abusers dial up pharmacies, pretending to
be a physician to get a prescription, and many insurance companies
have begun to require the DEA number for identification. "And your
number gets spread all over," Williamson said. An official with
Turning Point North Texas Council on Substance Abuse said he is
receiving more calls from people dealing with addictions to Oxycontin,
Vicodin and other prescription medicines. "Initially, what is
happening there is that people have legitimate injuries that they
receive these heavy-duty pain pills for," Steve Rueschenberg, Turning
Point executive director, said. "Maybe they've hurt their back, been
involved in an accident, maybe it's a work-related thing." Or a person
might come at drug abuse from another direction. "People may be using
or getting access to the heroin, and then when it dries up, they use
the prescription pain pills," he said. Oxycontin has probably become
one of the most abused prescription drugs because it's cheaper than
Dialaudid, said a Wichita Falls narcotics officer who spoke on
condition of anonymity. Williamson said he never had a problem
controlling drugs such as Oxycontin or morphine because he knew
exactly who was taking what and why. But if a person was dying of
cancer, his personal philosophy was to allow them to have whatever
they wanted. "On the other hand, you do have pain syndromes which defy
good diagnosis and treatment that can lead to abuse patterns,"
Williamson said. Often terminally ill cancer patients become dealers
of drugs like Oxycontin, the narcotics officer said. They sell the
medications at a huge profit, possibly dealing drugs to supplement a
fixed income.

A tablet might cost 50 cents at the pharmacy.

They sell it to a wholesale drug dealer for up to $15. Then the
wholesaler charges up to $55 a tablet on the street. For the
terminally ill, the question becomes, "What's more important to you,
the dope or the money?" the officer said.