EARLEY CALLS CONFERENCE

Synthetic Drug Focus Of Meeting On Thursday

Concerned about the growing illegal abuse of a powerful synthetic morphine
called OxyContin, representatives from attorney general offices in eight
states plan to gather in Richmond on Thursday to discuss ways to limit the
drug to prescribed users.

Those who obtain the drug through prescriptions, meanwhile, worry that
growing government interest in the drug could lead to more regulation, and
that could mean more difficulty in getting doctors to prescribe OxyContin.

The OxyContin summit, called by Virginia Attorney General Mark L. Earley,
follows the state medical examiner's disclosure earlier this month that 32
Southwest Virginians had overdosed on the prescription painkiller in the
past four years, 28 of those in the past two years. Eastern Kentucky has
also seen an increase in overdoses among illegal users, and several states,
including Virginia, have seen crime surge as abusers addicted to the drug
rob and steal to obtain it.

Just yesterday, a federal grand jury in Abingdon indicted five Lee County
residents and an Ohioan, charging them with running an illegal OxyContin ring.

Earley spokesman Randy Davis said the summit agenda is wide open, but
Earley wants the drug's maker, Purdue Pharma L.P. of Connecticut, to offer
assurances that it is doing something to stem the tide of abuse.

A Purdue Pharma representative plans to speak to the attorney general
representatives Thursday. In a letter to Earley two weeks ago, company Vice
President Michael Friedman said Purdue Pharma is taking steps to keep the
drug in the right hands. Friedman also said the company is concerned that
continuing news coverage of the painkiller's abuse could unfairly make it
harder for people in pain to get prescriptions for OxyContin.

OxyContin, which comes in pills ranging from 10 to 160 milligrams, is
generally prescribed for those in acute or terminal pain. The Food and Drug
Administration approved its use in 1996. Abusers have found that they can
attain a powerful feeling of euphoria by crushing and snorting the pills or
by injecting them. Those methods of taking the drug, however, can be deadly.

Several legal users of OxyContin who have contacted The Times-Dispatch by
e-mail said yesterday they fear the attorneys general will rush to tighten
regulation of the drug without considering that it helps millions daily.
States sending representatives to the meeting are Virginia, Kentucky, West
Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

"For somebody with chronic pain like myself, this drug allows you to lead a
basically normal life," said Steve R., 27, a cancer patient from
Minneapolis, Minn., who declined to give his last name in part for fear
that somebody might try to rob him of the drug. "It's already hard enough
to get it as it is. Doctors are afraid to prescribe it. I have to sign a
two-page agreement to get it in Minnesota."

"They should keep a leash on it, but don't restrict it and don't jump on
doctors who write prescriptions for it. Don't make doctors afraid to
prescribe it," said John L., 43, of Mechanicsville, who said he suffers
from intense back pain. "There are those of us who are entitled to relief.
I have a wife and three children - this allows me to enjoy the time with my
family."

Davis, Earley's spokesman, said the attorneys general are not bent on any
particular course of action. "I don't know what they're going to do. But
they do want to talk about it."

Purdue Pharma already has distributed thousands of brochures to doctors and
pharmacists on how to keep OxyContin from falling into the wrong hands. The
company is also about to begin a pilot program in Maine in which it would
give away tamper-proof prescription pads to doctors. Southwest Virginia
prosecutors assert that many people are forging prescriptions to obtain
OxyContin, and Purdue Pharma has offered to add Virginia to the pilot program.