PEIA RIGHTFULLY MOVES TO CONTROL NARCOTIC ABUSE

The amount the state insurance program is spending on the painkiller
OxyContin has risen dramatically in recent months.

The Associated Press reports the Public Employees Insurance Agency spent 38
percent more on OxyContin in the first 11 months of the 2000-2001 year than
it did in the entire 1999-2000 financial year. That's an increase from
$589,000 to $812,000.

OxyContin is remarkably effective at dulling the pain suffered by cancer
patients and other victims of chronic pain.

But OxyContin also has become the current drug of choice for many drug
abusers, and such a sharp, sudden increase in PEIA prescriptions for it is
a clear cause for concern.

Thus we're pleased to hear that the agency has instituted a new program it
hopes will weed out those on its rolls who may be abusing OxyContin and
other prescription pain drugs.

PEIA says it will contact doctors with patients who use more than one
doctor for controlled substance claims in any three-month period and
doctors with patients who ask for more than four controlled substances per
quarter, or who are receiving more than 120 days of therapy with a
controlled substance.

Yes, patients who need OxyContin must continue to get it. But the new
precautions PEIA is putting in place are clearly necessary to make certain
the state insurance plan isn't footing the bill for people abusing the drug.