DEA MOVES TO RESTRICT PAINKILLER

Widely Used Hydrocodone Being Abused, Agency Says

WASHINGTON - The Drug Enforcement Administration is working to make one of
the nation's most widely prescribed medications more difficult for patients
to obtain as part of its stepped-up offensive against the diversion and
abuse of prescription painkillers.

Top DEA officials confirm that the agency is eager to change the official
listing of the narcotic hydrocodone -- which was prescribed more than 100
million times last year -- to the highly restricted Schedule II category of
the Controlled Substances Act. A painkiller and cough suppressant sold as
Lortab, Vicodin and 200 generic brands, hydrocodone combined with other
medications has long been available under the less stringent rules of
Schedule III.

The DEA effort is part of a broad campaign to address the problem of
prescription drug abuse, which the agency says is growing quickly around
the nation. But the initiative has repeatedly pitted the agency against
doctors, pharmacists and pain sufferers, and it is doing so again with the
hydrocodone proposal.

Pain specialists and pharmacy representatives say the restrictions would be
a burden on the millions of Americans who need the drug to treat serious
pain from arthritis, AIDS, cancer and chronic injuries, and that many
sufferers would probably be prescribed other, less effective drugs as a result.

If the change is made, millions of patients, doctors and pharmacists will
be affected, some substantially. Patients, for instance, would have to
visit their doctors more often for hydrocodone prescriptions, because they
could not be refilled; doctors could no longer phone in prescriptions; and
pharmacists would have to fill out significantly more paperwork and keep
the drugs in a safe.

Improper prescribing would carry potentially greater penalties.

The DEA says the change is necessary because hydrocodone is being widely
misused -- with a 48 percent increase in emergency room reports of
hydrocodone abuse from 1998 to 2001.

The DEA effort comes as the agency is embroiled in a dispute with many pain
specialists over the use -- and alleged overprescribing -- of another
powerful painkiller, OxyContin. Scores of doctors have been arrested on
felony charges of conspiracy, drug trafficking and even murder in
connection with their prescribing.

Susan Winkler of the American Pharmacists Association said her organization
is concerned that the "ripple effects" would be substantial and negative.

"Our members and doctors would have increased liability" if hydrocodone is
reclassified, "and that will inevitably reduce prescribing," she said. "We
urge the DEA to make sure their decision is based on science and will make
the situation better, not worse."