HEROIN SUBSTITUTE GROWS IN POPULARITY

Drug is in county, but not yet widely used

OxyContin: Police on the alert

A highly addictive morphine-based painkiller, which has been linked to a
rash of armed robberies in the Johnstown area, has caught the attention of
local and state law enforcement officers.

OxyContin, a prescription drug, has been growing in popularity among heroin
addicts in the western part of the state and could be migrating east,
according to state attorney general spokesman Kevin Harley.

"OxyContin is the poor man's heroin," Harley said. "The drug is becoming a
real problem, and the only way to get it is through a doctor prescription or
to steal it from a pharmacy."

Lancaster County drug investigators have not found OxyContin gaining
widespread popularity here, though some people are using the drug.

"Locally, it has been heroin addicts using OxyContin because they can't get
heroin," a member of the Lancaster County Drug Task Force said. "We've seen
a handful of cases where OxyContin has been involved, but I wouldn't say
it's big yet."

In June, a Columbia pharmacy was robbed and the armed suspect demanded
OxyContin.

Although it's prescribed as a pill, OxyContin is usually crushed and snorted
or boiled down and injected intravenously by street users for a quicker
high.

OxyContin, which is more accessible than heroin, is viewed by users as safer
because it is a prescription drug, Harley said, unlike street drugs, which
can be mixed with "junk" additives.

Oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin, is found in other
prescription painkillers including Percocet, Percodan and Tylox, but in a
much lower concentration.

OxyContin, known on the street as "oxies" or "OCs," was designed as a
12-hour painkiller. It is easy to conceal and available in dosages of 20, 40
and 80 milligrams. Once on the street, one pill sells for $1 per milligram.

"Some heroin users like it because you can take it in a pill and not have to
stick a needle in your arm like with heroin," Harley said. "I can see
OxyContin becoming big across the state for that one reason."

Six months ago, the FBI, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and police in
west-central Pennsylvania created a task force to tackle OxyContin-related
crimes in the area. Typically, suspects rob pharmacies and take OxyContin
pills.

In September, 31 people were arrested and charged with selling tens of
thousands of dollars of the painkiller in Cambria County.

The string of robberies before the arrests prompted some drugstores in
Cambria County to stop carrying OxyContin. To deter would-be robbers, the
stores also posted signs stating that they don't carry the drug, which has
been on the market since 1996.

The primary way for OxyContin to get on the street is through what is called
"doctor shopping."

Drug users will go from doctor to doctor with concocted complaints to get
several different prescriptions. Addicts or dealers often forge
prescriptions to get OxyContin. Some doctors and pharmacists also run "pill
mills," selling the drugs for their own profit, Harley said.

The state has assembled a medication fraud control team, which investigates
physicians issuing unnecessary doses of OxyContin, Harley said.

"Two years ago, nobody heard of OxyContin," Harley said. "Now it's out
there, and more and more people are taking it."