NO LACK OF IDEAS IN DEALING WITH OXYCONTIN ISSUE

Better education, both for patients and doctors. Abuse-resistant drugs.
Electronic tracking of prescriptions. Pumping more money into programs to
treat addicts. Even random drug tests.

Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives OxyContin Commission
heard all these ideas and more in a nearly three-hour hearing yesterday on
prescription drug abuse, particularly of OxyContin.

"This is not someone else's problem, this is everyone's problem,"
commission co-Chairman Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, said at the
hearing's outset. "We all tend to think in terms of OxyContin, but there
are a lot of prescription drugs we need to be concerned about."

The greatest weapon against abuse is one doctors, pharmacists, legislators
and even patients already possess -- information -- according to Steve
Grossman, owner of Brookline-based J.E. Pierce Apothecary Inc.

Although the state already has a program in place to monitor prescriptions
for powerful drugs like OxyContin, Grossman said he has never been warned
about filling a prescription for a patient, or about over-prescribing by a
doctor.

"It's the dissemination of that information that's so critical," he said.
"But if I don't know if (someone) is coming up in your computer as
questionable, I'm going to assume he's good."

Meanwhile, Grossman said, laws designed to protect patients, like the
Health Insurance Portability Act, are making it tougher for pharmacists and
doctors to spot abusers.

When it comes to educating the public about the dangers of prescription
drug abuse, the earlier the better, said officials like Framingham
Superintendent Christopher Martes said.

Framingham schools were recently awarded a $200,000 grant by the MetroWest
Healthcare Foundation to beef up drug education, particularly in middle school.

The use and abuse of prescription drugs such as OxyContin will be a key
part of that program, Martes said.

Although the drug so far has not been a problem in Framingham schools, "we
need to be diligent (and) we need to continue to reach out to parents so
they understand we're a resource," Martes said.

The Framingham grant was part of a larger $1 million program that will
cover five MetroWest communities, Foundation CEO Martin Cohen said.

"We clearly need to be concerned about OxyContin," he said.

The handful of chronic pain sufferers who, like Don Freeman, rely on the
drug to ensure their quality of life, urged the commission to keep the drug
available to those who use it as intended.

"There is a tremendous stigma attached to being a chronic pain patient,"
said Freeman, who has used the drug for more than a decade to manage his
pain. "I appreciate that the abuse of OxyContin is a problem, but there are
people...like me that are normal people."

As long as the drug is available, though, there will be some who abuse it.

To treat those who do, John Sannicandro, a counselor with the South
Middlesex Opportunity Council, the state must provide more funding for
drug-abuse services like the now-defunct Framingham detox center.

Studies have shown that as many as 20 percent of teens take some sort of
legally prescribed medication, Sannicandro said.

"That creates a culture, I think, that's very dangerous," he said. "The
perception in many people is pill-taking is OK.

"Unless you make that connection with a kid, showing them that, yes, this
does happen to you...unless there is some kind of follow-up, it's a slap on
the wrist. Unless it's personal, it's meaningless."