ABUSE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS WIDESPREAD

Study Shows Growing Number Of Teenagers Are Using Medications Illegally

Abuse of prescription drugs is "epidemic," with teenagers the
fastest-growing group of new abusers, yet the problem has not drawn
adequate attention from health and law enforcement agencies,
physicians, pharmacists and parents, according to a study released yesterday.

Abusers of prescription drugs -- 15.1 million people -- exceed the
combined number abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin,
the report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at
Columbia University said. Of those, 2.3 million are teenagers, but
youngsters turn to prescription drugs at much higher rates than
adults do, the study reports. Teenagers arrange "pharming parties"
where they swap drugs they have spirited from home or purchased off
the streets or online, the report said.

"Availability is the mother of abuse," said Joseph A. Califano Jr.,
the center's chairman and former U.S. secretary of health, education
and welfare. "When I was young my parents would lock their liquor
cabinet. It may be parents should be thinking of locking their
medicine cabinets."

The center's three-year study analyzed 15 national data sets,
collected information on Internet pharmacies, and conducted original
interviews and surveys among doctors and pharmacists.

The tally of abusers of medications is derived from the 2003 National
Survey on Drug Use and Health, the most recent in which participants
report their own use. An abuser is anyone who reported using an
unprescribed drug or taking one only for the feeling it caused.

The number of prescriptions for controlled drugs and the number of
abusers far outstripped U.S. population growth between 1992 and 2002,
the study reports. The rise in prescriptions reflects the fact that
some illnesses can now be treated by medication rather than by other
means, Califano said, "so there is not a perfect relation between
that and the rise in abuse. But there is enough to suggest there is a
relation."

"Add in that we're inventing more and better and more powerful drugs
of all these types all the time and you have to see that there are
going to be more substances available, not fewer, " he said.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, whose
members include major drug firms, "strongly supports efforts that
help prevent the dangerous and illegal practice of diverting
prescription drugs from their intended use," PhRMA Senior Vice
President Ken Johnson said in a written statement. "Medicines cannot
help patients if they are compromised by misuse or by breakdowns in
the distribution system. "

Some drugstore chains have already tightened controls over cold and
cough remedies abused by teenagers by putting them behind counters or
selling them only to adults. The study suggests broader remedies,
including improving monitoring of sales and distribution by
enforcement agents, having doctors routinely ask patients about
prescription drug use as they do tobacco use, and improving training
to detect abuse. Pharmacists should ask about all controlled drugs a
patient may be taking and become more aggressive about validating
prescriptions, the study said.

At the federal level, Califano said, "we probably need laws on
Internet sales, though the Internet is a hard one." At least seven
attempts to control online drug sales or make the licensing and
ownership of Web pharmacies more obvious have failed in Congress
since 2004, the study reported.

The center's study was funded by a $1 million unrestricted grant from
Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of OxyContin, a painkiller originally
intended for end-stage cancer patients. It is now widely diverted and
abused. The study notes that Purdue "aggressively marketed" the drug
for lesser pain, leading to more prescriptions. The company also
formulated OxyContin in a way that easily allowed abusers to crush
and snort the pills, overcoming its time-release formula and allowing
a narcotic rush.

Califano said the center and Purdue had a signed agreement that the
company would not have input into the report.