DRUG PROBLEM

Reprimanded dentist shouldn't lead group

Even if Dr. David Narramore's motives are 100 percent pure, his
selection as chairman of an anti-drug group in Letcher County is bound
to create distrust.

Unless Narramore steps down and gives the group a chance at a fresh
start, he also will discredit U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers' regional
initiative to combat illegal drug use.

The objections to Narramore are twofold, as Herald-Leader staff writer
Lee Mueller reported.

The state dentistry board publicly reprimanded Narramore last year for
sloppy record-keeping when prescribing painkillers in his Whitesburg
dental practice.

And he became chairman of the local anti-drug group after its election
was hijacked by people perceived to have a vested interest in sparing
Whitesburg's medical and legal establishments from criticism or change.

"A hostile takeover" is how Letcher County Judge-Executive Carroll
Smith describes Narramore's 65-53 election in March at a meeting
packed with members of the medical and legal communities. Since then,
most of the group's original grass-roots members, including neighbors
of drug dealers and parents of users, have quit.

The local group is part of Rogers' $16 million UNITE -- short for
Unlawful Narcotics Investigation, Treatment and Education --
initiative in the 29 counties of Rogers' district.

We expect that many Letcher County residents agree with Smith when he
says, "I've got a problem with a doctor that has been investigated and
charged with improperly dispensing prescription drugs being chairman
of a coalition whose goals include looking at doctors."

The medical community has a vital role in combating the epidemic of
prescription drug abuse. Local anti-drug efforts need doctors and
judges. They need regular folks, too.

Unfortunately, the professionals who now dominate Letcher County's
local group have created the impression that they are more interested
in saving themselves from scrutiny and criticism than they are in
saving families and communities from the ravages of addiction.

It appears the health care professionals don't want to give regular
folks even a toehold from which to question how the industry is run,
including what safeguards are in place to prevent overprescribing,
doctor shopping and criminal activity.

Narramore should think about the appearance he has helped create. And
that appearance just gets worse when you factor in his $7,500 in
contributions to Rogers' campaigns since 1997 and his history as a
Republican Party chairman in Letcher County.

Narramore might mean well. This looks, nonetheless, like one in a long
line of episodes in which the politics of self-interest and power are
steamrolling the people of Eastern Kentucky.