CONCERNS VOICED OVER OXYCONTIN DRUG

HAZARD, Ky. (AP) - Pharmacists call OxyContin a painkiller. Cindy Fugate
disagrees, the pain still sharp after her mother's death from abusing the
synthetic morphine.

"I catch myself wanting to talk to her, but I can't," the 16-year-old said.
Her mother overdosed on OxyContin or Oxy, prescription pills that
authorities say have become a drug of choice among addicts.

Norma Ratliff knows the pain too: Her son was shot to death by two men who
rifled through his pockets looking for OxyContin. And Franklin McIntosh was
jailed after robbing a bank to fund his Oxy addiction.

"Once they get hold of you, you do anything it takes to get more," said
McIntosh, 46, a former motorcycle shop service manager.

In the past year, OxyContin overdoses have resulted in at least 59 deaths
in Kentucky's mountain region, authorities said. In Virginia, 32 deaths
have been connected to abuse of the drug.

Concern is being voiced in several states as more illicit drug users
discover OxyContin, often used to treat cancer patients. Users grind up the
tablets and snort the powder, or mix it with water and inject it like heroin.

The drug is more popular than cocaine or heroin because it produces a high
that is more euphoric than other narcotics, said Kentucky prosecutor Joseph
Famularo.

In addition to a spate of deaths, authorities report an accompanying
increase in crime, such as robberies of pharmacies, residential burglaries
and bank heists, as users steal to feed their addictions.

Kentucky police in February arrested more than 200 people in a single day
on OxyContin-related charges.

Officials from five states and the federal government met with the drug's
manufacturer, Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., earlier this month to
discuss solutions to the problems.

"We want to do everything we can to make sure this medicine is used for
patients for whom it is appropriate and that it is not given to those who
don't need it or who would abuse it," said Dr. J. David Haddox, senior
medical director for health policy at Purdue Pharma.

While the company maintains the drug is safe when used properly under a
physician's supervision, it's planning programs to educate health care
providers about prescription drug abuse, and inform doctors about
tamper-resistant prescription pads.

Critics say the preventative measures don't go far enough. A Virginia
physician is circulating a national petition to ban OxyContin, even though
he recognizes the benefits for patients with chronic pain.

"By light years, the harm outweighs the benefits," said Dr. Art Van Zee of
the St. Charles Community Health Clinic.

Van Zee has the support of relatives like Cindy Fugate, who was awoken by a
2:30 a.m. phone call and told her mother had died.

"I just dropped the phone and started crying," said Fugate.

Her mother, Sandra Fugate Riddle, was at a roadside motel shooting up with
friends when she died. Her family isn't sure how long she had been abusing
the drug. But they say Riddle, once a caring single parent, had distanced
herself as she became more deeply involved the underground drug community
in the months before her death.

Cindy now lives with her aunt. Her 14- and 13-year-old brothers are wards
of the state.

"I stay depressed," she said. "I just don't really think about much other
than wanting her back."

Ratliff's 27-year-old son, Chad, was shooting OxyContin with two men when
they got into an argument over a drug debt.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Graham said Chad Ratliff was shot in the head and his
pockets were then pilfered for OxyContin.

Ratliff blames both the men and the drug for her son's death. "How many
more people are going to have to die?" she asked.