OXYCONTIN'S MAKER WILL TRY TO CURB ABUSE

Its Use As Street Drug Is Rampant. Attorney General Mark Earley Asked The
Drug's Maker To Help Communities Fight The Growing Problem.

RICHMOND - Virginia's attorney general and the maker of a widely abused
prescription painkiller agreed Thursday to a series of measures aimed at
stemming the tide of addiction and drug-related crime in Southwest Virginia.

Attorney General Mark Earley called for improved prescription monitoring,
new education programs and expanded law enforcement efforts to address the
widespread abuse of OxyContin and the criminal activity that often
accompanies it.

"Every time I have visited the area over the last few months, I have gotten
heart-wrenching stories from our citizens in Southwest Virginia, at a very
personal level, about how the illegal use of this particular pharmaceutical
drug is affecting their communities," Earley said.

Sheriffs in Lee and Tazewell counties blame OxyContin addiction for most of
their crime and have raised concerns that abuse of the painkiller may
ravage their communities the way crack cocaine did inner-city neighborhoods.

OxyContin abusers treat the pills like a street drug, grinding them up and
either snorting or injecting the powder to create a heroin-like high.

Law enforcement officials blame OxyContin abuse for a wave of addiction and
crime sweeping Virginia's rural counties and have pleaded with the drug's
manufacturer and the attorney general's office to do something about the
problem. At least 32 deaths in the state have been blamed on improper use
of the drug.

Earley and representatives of Purdue Pharma L.P. met for nearly two hours
in a session that included Lee County's sheriff and prosecutor, Drug
Enforcement Administration agents, Maryland's attorney general and
officials from West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. They emerged with a series
of recommendations to crack down on illegal prescriptions and improve
awareness of the drug's dangers.

Purdue Pharma agreed to produce and distribute "tamper resistant"
prescription pads for physicians in areas hardest hit by OxyContin abuse.
The company also will spend $100,000 to fund a study of prescription
monitoring programs in other states. The study will help the attorney
general's office design a monitoring program in Virginia, Earley said.

Purdue Pharma and Earley's office will cosponsor a series of educational
programs for health care professionals in Southwest Virginia and for
parents and students throughout the state. Earley also will ask his special
task force on computer crimes to research and investigate the sale of
prescription drugs on the Internet.

David Haddox, Purdue Pharma's senior medical director for health policy,
called the recommendations "very reasonable." The steps will help curb the
abuse of OxyContin without keeping the medication from patients who need
it, he said.

"We've got to get the right medicines to the right people for the right
reasons," Haddox said. "We've got to stop the wrong people from getting
hold of these things because, when they do, they make it harder for the
right people to get them."

Earley called OxyContin "a wonder drug when used appropriately."

"But when in the wrong hands - of those to whom it has not been prescribed
and to those who would wish to use it illegally - it is an agent of death
and an agent of addiction," he said.

Few recognize that reality more than Lee County Sheriff Gary Parsons, who
blames OxyContin abuse for a devastating wave of property crimes and
growing number of drug addictions. Parsons said his office simply lacks the
money and the manpower to control it.

"Our biggest need right now that we don't have in our area is resources for
addiction treatment," Parsons said. "The closest thing we have is in Galax.
We've got parents that are coming to us, kids that are coming to us and
adults saying, 'We want off of this stuff.' We've got no resources to help
them."

Earley's recommendations will help Lee County's problems over the long
term, Parsons said. But citizens there still have a crisis on their hands,
he added.

"Our problem is immediate," he said. "People are looking for answers."