FROM MEXICO TO RURAL KENTUCKY: THE OXYCONTIN TRAIL

In heading to Mexico, David Perkins and Dewayne Harris were taking part in
a gold rush fueled by the popularity of OxyContin in Eastern Kentucky.

As demand started to outstrip the availability of local prescriptions that
could be diverted to the black market, law enforcement officials said,
smugglers went south. (The drug's manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, said it
stopped producing OxyContin in Mexico in 2001 after a large warehouse full
of pills was robbed.)

Originally intended as a time-release painkiller for terminally ill cancer
patients, OxyContin quickly became known for the dramatic intoxication that
resulted when a user ground up a pill and injected or snorted the powder.

Dewayne Harris was caught once, in April 2000, during a stop that makes it
clear the group was bringing a lot of OxyContin into Kentucky.

Harris was detained along with his wife, Edna, at the Knoxville, Tenn.,
airport.

Another man from Harlan, Johnny Epperson, was also stopped. They were
returning from Laredo, Texas.

Agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration searched them and
found $4,212 in cash and about 1,700 OxyContin pills, worth at least $17,000.

All three later pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs.