LEE COALITION TAKING STEPS TO FIGHT OXYCONTIN ABUSE

JONESVILLE - A task force organized by the Lee Coalition for Health
will meet Wednesday morning to explore ideas generated during
workshops Friday on dealing with OxyContin abuse in Lee County. Task
force members hope to come up with concrete plans for the next step in
eliminating the problem.

The coalition held a meeting Friday to address what it calls an
epidemic of OxyContin abuse in the county. After a number of speakers
gave their perspective on the drug, the audience was broken into
workshop groups.

OxyContin is a narcotic painkiller many hail as a miracle drug for
chronic pain, but others see it as the latest scourge because abusers
circumvent its time-release properties by crushing it to snort or
inject to get a quick, euphoric high.

Sister Beth Davies, who moderated the Friday meeting, said Monday one
group decided to start a support group for parents and other family
members who are dealing with problems related to drug abusers in their
family. This group has scheduled its first meeting for 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday at the Pennington Gap Municipal Building.

Another group has agreed to start Narcotics Anonymous meetings on
Wednesdays. These meetings, geared toward youth, will also be held at
the Pennington Gap Municipal Building at 6:30 p.m., Davies said.

A third group has decided to work together to find out what drug abuse
prevention curriculum is available in the school system and what can
be done to improve it.

And another group agreed to work to distribute petitions to get the
Food and Drug Administration and Purdue Pharma, the maker of
OxyContin, to recall the drug. Davies said they will work to
distribute the petitions throughout Lee County and other regions where
the drug is being abused.

Other ideas generated in the workshops included having churches and
schools provide meeting places for youth to give them an alternative
to drug abuse and working with other communities that have
successfully addressed drug problems to learn what has worked and what
hasn't.

Davies said a coalition task force put together Friday's meeting. That
group will meet Wednesday morning to evaluate Friday's meeting, review
what happened in each of the workshops, and plan the coalition's next
step in dealing with OxyContin abuse.

"We know this is only a beginning," she said. "In each case we tried
to get something concrete from each group. We want to look at
everything and plan our next step."