PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE SOARS IN U.S.

WASHINGTON - Prescription drug abuse has skyrocketed among young teens and
the American public in general compared with other kinds of drug abuse,
according to a report released Thursday.

The report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA)
at Columbia University found that 15.1 million Americans, or 6 percent,
admit to abusing prescription drugs - more than all other forms of drug
abuse combined. About 6 million people, the second- highest amount, admit
to abusing cocaine and 4 million admit to abusing hallucinogens, the
third-highest number.

Some well-known drugs are the most abused, the report found. Pain relievers
OxyContin and Vicodin and depressants Valium and Xanax were abused the
most. Ritalin and Adderall, commonly prescribed stimulants that are
supposed to help concentration, are also among the most abused prescription
drugs.

The 214-page report is the result of a three-year, $1.5 million effort on
what CASA called America's biggest and fastest-growing drug epidemic. The
center said the report was the first of its kind.

"We hope this report will be a wake-up call to Americans," said Joseph
Califano, CASA's chairman and president and former secretary of health,
education and welfare during Jimmy Carter's presidency.

Among the report's findings:

* Between 1992 and 2003, when the U.S. population increased 14 percent, the
number of people abusing controlled prescription drugs jumped 94 percent.

* Between 1992 and 2003, the report found a 212 percent increase in the
number of adolescents ranging from 12 to 17 years old who abuse
prescription drugs. In 2003, the report found that 2.3 million in this
group - 9.3 percent - reported abusing a controlled prescription drug in
the year before.

* About 43 percent of physicians - who often have little time to spend with
patients - do not ask about prescription drug abuse when learning about
patients' health history.

* From 1992 to 2002, prescriptions for controlled drugs increased more than
150 percent.

The report detailed a litany of reasons for the surge in abuse, finding
that drugs are more readily available and often overprescribed.

Doctors may be partly to blame, Califano said at a news conference at the
National Press Club.

"So much of this is ignorance, carelessness" on the part of doctors, he
said. Califano described overfilled waiting rooms and overwhelmed doctors
who may prescribe drugs like OxyContin for moderate pain when it should be
used only for more severe circumstances.

Purdue Pharma, a Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company, commissioned the
report and paid for the bulk of it. It signed a contract saying that it
would have nothing to do with the findings, however.

The report criticized pharmaceutical companies - and Purdue Pharma
specifically - for aggressively promoting OxyContin. Susan Foster, CASA's
vice president and director of policy research and analysis, said Purdue
Pharma was promoting the drug to doctors to use for moderate as well as
severe pain. Doctors, she said, are often taking the bait.

"If (doctors) only have 10 minutes to deal with a patient . . . they may be
prescribing a controlled drug to someone who has a problem."