OXYCONTIN BAN GOES TOO FAR

The proposal by U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, D-Boston, to ban the painkiller
OxyContin from the commercial market goes too far.

In filing the bill, Mr. Lynch cited the drug's alleged addictiveness, which
he says has led to widespread abuse, making its threat to public health
greater than its potential therapeutic benefits.

The drug was originally approved for end-stage cancer patients and others
with severe and increasing pain whose conditions counterbalanced the
addictive effects of the drug. However, Oxy-Contin now is being prescribed
for mild to moderate and intermittent pain related to broken bones, dental
discomfort and lower back pain. It also has become popular for nonmedical
uses. Abusers crush the pills and then snort or inject the drug.

A ban would inhibit illegal use, but it also would deny patients, who are
dying or in excruciating pain, legitimate and extremely effective pain
management.

Abuse and illegimate use of legally prescribed narcotics is a serious
problem. But there are steps lawmakers can take short of an outright ban,
which only should be a last resort. OxyContin's maker, Purdue Pharma,
already is working with the Food and Drug Administration to strengthen
warnings on OxyContin package inserts, and has helped law enforcement
officials develop placebo tablets used in sting operations. It also is
developing a formulation that would maintain the drug's potent painkilling
ability, while adding a second drug that would counteract the first one
only when the pill is crushed into a powder and then snorted or injected.

An appropriate solution is needed. But preventing terminally ill patients
and others who are in need of legitimate pain management from obtaining the
drug is not the right answer.