TASK FORCE - OXYCONTIN PART OF BIGGER PROBLEM OF DRUG ABUSE IN KY.

Other Medications Should Be Investigated, Too

FRANKFORT Though OxyContin is the latest hot drug among illegal users,
Kentucky has widespread problems with abuse of other prescription
medication, members of an OxyContin task force said yesterday.

And that means perhaps the group should expand its work to attack abuse
of other drugs in addition to OxyContin, some people said at the first
meeting of the task force.

``The problem is not abuse of OxyContin in Kentucky. The problem is drug
abuse in Kentucky,'' said state Rep. Jack Coleman, D-Burgin.

Kentucky State Police Commissioner Ishmon F. Burks, who chairs the task
force, said he thinks Gov. Paul Patton would support a broader look at
prescription-drug abuse if the task force decides that is needed.

The first focus, however, is OxyContin, a powerful painkiller that
contains a synthetic morphine. Doctors and others say the drug, made by
Purdue Pharma LP of Connecticut, is highly effective when used properly,
as an oral medication.

But illegal users grind up the pills and snort or inject the drug for an
intense high. Police and prosecutors say they have seen a sharp rise in
OxyContin abuse in recent years most markedly in Eastern Kentucky and
other rural areas in the East driving an increase in overdose deaths and
thefts by abusers seeking money for the drug.

``Through all this, it's destroyed a lot of lives,'' said Detective
Lynne Thompson of the Lexington police department.

Patton appointed the task force to try to curb OxyContin abuse after
police arrested more than 200 people last month on charges related to
the drug. It was the largest drug sweep in state history.

The goal of the task force is to develop plans for education,
enforcement and legislation to tackle the problem. Burks asked the task
force members representing law enforcement, health-care providers,
pharmacists and legislators to submit draft plans by early April, then
meet again April 18 to focus the effort.

There were several suggestions yesterday, such as more treatment for
addicts, requiring a photo identification for a first-time customer to
pick up a prescription, and even caller identification at pharmacies so
people couldn't pose as a nurse or doctor and call in a prescription
renewal.

Coleman said he hopes the effort will mean more money and staff for a
state computer system known as KASPER that, among other things, can help
spot ``doctor shoppers'' who go to different physicians and pharmacies
seeking drugs.

Coleman sponsored the bill to create the system after a 1997 task force
identified problems with drug abuse. That bill, passed in 1998, also
made it a felony to possess a forged prescription pad, among other
things.

The state needs to work toward having a real-time, online system for
doctors to send prescriptions to pharmacists, Coleman said.

Education for doctors was another key theme yesterday.

A key factor in abuse of OxyContin is overprescribing by doctors, said
KSP Maj. William Stewart.

Dr. Donald Douglas, who has a practice called Advanced Pain Medicine at
St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, said some doctors don't know how to
accurately assess pain and the proper treatment of it.

Doctors' training to be compassionate also creates a quandary because,
``Unfortunately, there are some physicians who take that to an
extreme,'' Douglas said.

J. David Haddox, senior medical director for Purdue Pharma, told task
force members that the company provides information and training for
doctors and pharmacists and is developing more.

U.S. Attorney Joe Famularo, federal prosecutor for the Eastern District
of Kentucky, said authorities also need to work on educating young
people to curb OxyContin abuse.

``We're very weak in education,'' he said.