PARENTS ALARMED BY A RASH OF DEATHS BY PAINKILLER'S ABUSERS IN PHILA. AREA

Parents and police met last night in North Philadelphia to discuss what
could be done to stem the illegal use of a powerful painkiller by city
teenagers.

Capt. Robert Trzcinski, head of the 26th Police District, told about 120
parents and teens at district headquarters, at 26th Street and Girard
Avenue, that abuse of OxyContin had resulted in fatal overdose for at least
four people in the area in the last few weeks.

"It's a police problem, but it's also a community problem and a parental
problem," Trzcinski said.

Edward Bisch, whose 18-year-old son, Eddie, died after combining OxyContin
with alcohol, said the drug, used to treat cancer patients and other
sufferers of chronic pain, was "heroin in a pill."

"It's playing Russian roulette with your life," Bisch said.

Edward Logan, a narcotics sergeant assigned to the district, agreed.

"This drug really scares me," said Logan, adding that even half a pill,
improperly used, could lead to death. In fact, half of a 40-milligram pill
of OxyContin was enough to kill Eddie Bisch.

OxyContin delivers the narcotic oxycodone - which, like heroin, is a
derivative of opium - in color-coded tablets containing five strength
levels, from 10 to 160 milligrams. The pill's time-release element
stretches out the drug's pain-killing properties for 12 hours.

The problem is that addicts have been known to chew, crush and snort the
pill or liquefy and inject it, destroying its acrylic time-release matrix.

The generic drug oxycodone is nothing new. It has been used in such
painkillers as Tylox, Percodan and Percocet since the early 1960s, when it
was approved for use, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The difference between OxyContin and other brand-name pills that use
oxycodone is that OxyContin contains a much higher concentration of the opiate.

In the last four months, Philadelphia medical examiners have found
oxycodone in 20 bodies, but it remains unclear whether the drug killed each
of those people, according to Jeff Moran, a spokesman for the city
Department of Public Health. Six or seven of the deaths, he said, have been
linked to oxycodone.

In comparison, he said, 23 bodies showed the presence of oxycodone in just
the first half of 2000, up from 17 in all of 1999. In 1998, 29 such bodies
were found, he added.

According to a database of 139 medical examiners in 40 metropolitan areas,
eight county medical examiners in the Philadelphia region reported in 1998
and 1999 a total of 42 oxycodone-related deaths - more than any other
metropolitan area.

Frederick Cusick's e-mail address is fcusick@phillynews.com.