OFFICIALS ON ALERT FOR ABUSE OF NEW PAIN DRUG OXYCONTIN

To patients suffering from chronic pain, it is a miracle drug. But in the
wrong hands, the pain medication OxyContin is a killer, authorities say.

Now, one of the most frequently abused drugs in the East has arrived in Utah.

"It's increasing," said Michael Crookston, medical director of LDS
Hospital's Dayspring drug and alcohol treatment program. "We're seeing more
and more of it."

An opiate-based drug, OxyContin is commonly prescribed to patients
suffering from severe and chronic pain, such as that accompanying terminal
cancer.

OxyContin abuse has become prevalent in Appalachian states such as
Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, where it is called "hillbilly heroin"
or "poor man's heroin."

"It's very, very addictive," said Landon Gibbs, assistant special agent in
charge for the Virginia State Police in a telephone interview with The Salt
Lake Tribune. "We've seen increases in property crimes, where people steal
whatever they can to sell for money to buy more. We've had robberies of
drugstores.

"It's all ages and all walks of life," Gibbs said.

But doctors and their patients who suffer chronic pain and say publicity
about misuse of the drug has resulted in undue concern. Patients who could
benefit from OxyContin are hesitant to take it, they say, and some
physicians are reluctant to prescribe it.

"Drug abusers will find a way to abuse any drug, no matter what it is,"
said Jorge Alvear, pain management fellow at the University of Utah's Pain
Management Clinic. "The medication itself is not the problem. Nobody in our
clinic has anything but the greatest confidence in that medication. I have
no qualms about prescribing [it]."

Crookston agrees OxyContin is "an excellent pain drug when it's used
correctly, under the right circumstances." Taken properly -- swallowed in
pill form -- OxyContin is a time-release drug that controls pain for 12 hours.

But abusers tend to grind the drug into powder, then snort it or mix it
with water and inject it.

Either way, OxyContin can be deadly, although the number of deaths because
of its use is widely disputed. The Boston University School of Public
Health reported last month more than 120 people nationwide have died as a
result of OxyContin use.

The drug's manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, based in Stamford, Conn., says that
number is exaggerated. Most overdose deaths attributed to OxyContin
actually resulted from the abuse of a combination of drugs, including
alcohol, the company said last month.

Commonly, OxyContin abusers experience respiratory depression, causing them
to stop breathing. But, Gibbs said, the drug's effect on the body can vary.

And its abuse is spreading. Once seen only in rural southwestern Virginia,
abuse of the drug has spread throughout the state and is creeping up and
down the Eastern seaboard, to states like Alabama, Florida and Maine.

In Utah, authorities said they have mainly noticed an increase in OxyContin
abuse within the last six months. Abuse of the drug is so new to the state
that officials are just beginning to track it.

The drug is usually grouped along with other opiate drugs, instead of
receiving a category of its own, like heroin. Most abusers get the drug --
small, round pills marked with "OC" on one side and the milligram number on
the other -- from someone with a legitimate prescription, LDS Hospital's
Crookston said. Some patients obtain more pills than they need and sell the
rest. Also common is "doctor shopping," or seeing multiple doctors to
obtain large amounts of the drug.

A year ago, OxyContin usually sold for $1 per milligram, Crookston said.
But one of his recent patients had bought a 40-milligram tablet for $10.
"There's more of it out there, and that's driven the price down."

Purdue Pharma is taking steps to stem OxyContin abuse. Most recently, it
suspended shipment of 160-milligram tablets. Other efforts include
cooperating with state and federal drug enforcement; and, in some cases,
funding youth drug education programs.

The company is also offering tamper-resistant prescription pads to doctors
in regions with a high incidence of OxyContin abuse. Because it is a
controlled substance, an OxyContin prescription must not be called in, only
written.

The word "void" shows up on the pads if writing is erased or changed, Gibbs
said, or if they are subjected to the heat of a copy machine.

Some states, including Virginia, are also considering using a database to
track patients' drug use. The database could alert authorities if a person
is seeing more than one doctor for prescriptions, Gibbs said.