OXYCONTIN CAN'T BE DENIED THOSE WHO BATTLE PAIN

For every complex social problem, there's a solution that's quick, simple
- -- and wrong.

A case in point: A legislative proposal by state Senate Majority Leader
Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, that would ban oxycodone, the main ingredient in
the popular painkiller OxyContin.

Illegal sale of OxyContin is a nationwide epidemic, but one that's hit
rural areas such as Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky especially
hard. Nationwide, abuse of the drug has been linked to more than 100
deaths. And law enforcement officials say it's now the "drug of choice"
with many addicts.

Chafin's solution: ban it.

"People just can't handle it," he insists.

Saying he expects his proposal to be opposed by the drug's maker and by
pharmacists who have profited from it, Chafin questions why a drug that is
so "dangerous" and so "destructive" should be allowed to remain on the market.

But a bottle of OxyContin can either harm or heal. The choice lies solely
with the user.

Chafin ignores the benefit that OxyContin has brought to many cancer
patients and other pain sufferers who literally look on it as a "miracle
drug." Remove the popular painkiller from the market and you condemn
countless West Virginians to needless pain and suffering -- an ordeal that
could be averted with the use of OxyContin.

Surely his fellow lawmakers will recognize just how wrong Chafin is to
propose banning a drug that, while abused by some, nonetheless has helped
countless West Virginians and promises to help many more.