INNOCENT VICTIMS OF DRUG ABUSE

Drug abuse claims many victims. When misuse of a potent painkiller makes it
less available, though, those with legitimate need suffer the worst
consequences.

OXY, THE street name for a potent, painkilling drug flooding the black
market in rural Southwestern Virginia, is churning up a wave of crime as it
sweeps through the counties of Tazewell and Pulaski, and laps up into
Montgomery.

The worst crime, though, promises to be the effect on people suffering
terrible pain, whose legitimate need for the drug might go unmet as a
result of this illicit trade.

Addicts are robbing drugstores, shoplifting, stealing and forging checks -
all to get the euphoric high that can be delivered by the abuse of
OxyContin. Prosecutors last year charged more than 150 people with felonies
associated with the drug in Tazewell County alone.

The crime wave is a result, apparently, of a combination of ignorance and
venality. Many users are young, the commonwealth's attorney said, and
probably unaware of how addictive the opioid-based OxyContin can be. Once
hooked, some feed their habit by going from doctor to doctor, describing
bogus symptoms to get prescriptions.

Such ignorance, on the part of young people and naive doctors alike, can be
addressed with intensive education about the dangers of this drug.

The venality is not so readily attacked. State police say some doctors and
pharmacists run "pill mills," selling prescription drugs for profits. Such
professionals show no more regard for the damaging effects on individuals
and communities than do the lowest street criminals.

Their amoral indifference undermines the public safety. Among the 150
Oxy-related felonies in Tazewell last year were 10 armed robberies of
drugstores.

An even greater offense, though, is the repercussion for those people - who
are dying of cancer, or recovering from major surgery - who have a
legitimate need, and will have greater difficulty getting OxyContin. Some
drugstores in the county no longer carry it in order to deter robbers.

Physicians in this country have been notorious for undertreating pain, many
for fear of being accused of pushing addictive drugs. Their attitudes
slowly are changing as hospice advocates demand more humane end-of-life care.

The abuse of potent painkillers does more than ruin addicts' lives and
damage communities. It threatens the comfort of people in their final days.
And that is despicable.