OUTCRY FROM PUBLIC PUTS NEW LAW ON HOLD FOR PAINKILLER

Florida's war on drugs almost clipped Enid Lythgoe.

But this week, the Florida Attorney General's Office short-circuited a new
law that would have made it harder for Lythgoe and patients like her to get
prescriptions for low doses of hydrocodone, a popular painkiller taken by
some 200,000 Floridians a year.

Hydrocodone is the key ingredient in Lorcet, Vicodin and some children's
cough syrups, but the Legislature this year included it in a bill that
toughened penalties for selling so-called designer drugs, including
Ecstasy, GBH and certain amphetamines.

For thousands of people like Lythgoe, 53, who takes Lortab to ease the
discomfort of fibromyalgia and other conditions, the new law would have
been a royal pain.

Beginning Oct. 1, all doses of hydrocodone would have been upgraded from a
Class 3 narcotic to the more strictly controlled Class 2. That means her
doctor would have been able to prescribe it only one month at a time, and
only after she went to her office. The doctor also wouldn't have been able
to phone in a prescription or refill.

Currently, doctors can prescribe a five-month supply of hydrocodone or
other Class 3 drugs.

"For so many of us, we get sick of going to the doctor," said Lythgoe, who
lives in Dunedin. "I could have a doctor's appointment every day of the
week. More doctors appointments would have been really difficult."

The state Attorney General's Office filed an emergency rule late Tuesday
with the Secretary of State in Tallahassee that maintains the status quo.

The Attorney General's Office submitted the rule after being bombarded with
letters from doctors, dentists, pharmacists, hospice workers, patients and
lawmakers, including the legislation's sponsor, who complained the new law
would punish thousands of people.

The state boards of medicine and pharmacy also passed resolutions asking
Attorney General Bob Butterworth to make the change.

"It became obvious that the consequences to the patients were unintended,"
said Assistant Attorney General Edwin A. Bayo, who handled the case and
also serves as counsel to the Board of Pharmacy.

"There is a legitimate law enforcement concern here, and they were trying
to address (it), but the consequences to patients and to patient care were
really (serious)."

Last year, Florida physicians wrote 3.6-million prescriptions for 15 mg or
less of hydrocodone for 150,000 to 200,000 patients.

Doctors say it is an extremely effective pain reliever and has fewer side
effects than many common alternatives, such as Tylenol with codeine or
Darvocet. It's especially helpful for elderly patients who don't tolerate
other medications well.

Hydrocodone is a narcotic and can be habit-forming; Green Bay Packers
quarterback Brett Favre was once hooked on Vicodin. But doses of
hydrocodone over 15 mg already are regulated as a Class 2 narcotic.

The Legislature included all doses of hydrocodone in a sweeping anti- drug
law after a South Florida prosecutor sought heftier penalties for people
who fraudulently obtain it, state officials said.

State law allows the attorney general to reclassify a drug between
legislative sessions. The emergency rule is good only through the end of
the next session; the Legislature must vote to make it permanent.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, who also heads
the Senate's criminal justice committee, said Wednesday that she sent the
attorney general a letter in favor of keeping hydrocodone a Class 3 drug.

She also vowed to sponsor a bill to make the emergency rule permanent.

When the Legislature included hydrocodone in the anti-drug measure, members
didn't understand the consequences, and no one brought them to light until
later, said Brown-Waite, who took hydrocodone after back surgery.

"It certainly was never our intention that people who are in chronic pain
have to go back to the doctor every time they need a new prescription," she
said.