KENTUCKY'S DRUG HABIT

IT'S HARD to go wrong beating up on pharmaceutical companies. But U.S. Rep.
Hal Rogers has managed it.

When deaths from abuse of the painkiller OxyContin soared in his Eastern
Kentucky area, he saw a political opportunity. He waged a prolonged,
high-profile effort to shift the responsibility away from the Kentuckians
who illegally trafficked the drug and onto the medication's maker, Purdue
Pharma.

Never mind Kentuckians'decades-long abuse of prescription medications and
the brazen pill mills that supplied them. Never mind the state's infamous
marijuana crop and its epidemic of meth labs. No, the reason poor, innocent
Kentuckians were dying from overdoses they'd snorted was that Purdue
Pharma's slick salesmen had duped simple country docs into over-prescribing
the stuff.

A lot of people bought it. But events have proven what a wasteful,
irresponsible diversion it was. Methadone, a long-available drug, has
replaced OxyContin as the state's deadly drug of choice, causing at least
345 deaths in 17 months. And the state's Appalachian drug dealers have
already gotten their hands on the next possible horror, a cheaper, generic
form of OxyContin that Purdue Pharma itself is fighting to keep off the
legitimate market.

Kentuckians' habit of abusing prescription drugs is entrenched, widespread
and deadly.

Kentuckians are responsible for its growth. Kentuckians are responsible for
kicking it. Blaming others only delays the cure.