FEDERAL GRANT COMES THROUGH FOR NARCOTICS MONITORING PROGRAM

Federal money is now in the pipeline for a program to head off illegal
prescriptions of OxyContin and other narcotics in Virginia.

Gov. Mark Warner announced Tuesday the $180,000 U.S. Department of Justice
grant, which will provide initial funding for Virginia's Prescription Drug
Monitoring Program approved in 2002.

The program will bring paper records of prescription activity involving
OxyContin and other Schedule II narcotics into a central database, making
it easier for law enforcement agencies to track abusers and illegal sellers
of the drugs.

Legislation sponsored by state Sen. William C. Wampler, Jr., R-Bristol, and
Delegate Terry Kilgore, D-Gate City, was approved by the General Assembly
and signed by Warner.

A tight state budget caused the legislature to include a provision that
non-state money be found to fund the program, delaying implementation.

The monitoring program will cover activity in 29 counties and 12 cities in
the western part of the state.

Wampler said the idea stemmed from Kentucky's success with a similar
program to deal with the illegal sale and use of OxyContin and Schedule II
narcotics in that state.

"What we learned was that Kentucky's program worked so well that we saw a
migration of a pattern of OxyContin abuse that started in Lee County and
moved eastward in Virginia," Wampler said. "Ultimately, we'd hope that all
bordering states would adopt a similar program that would help stop this
problem and would be a help to our own federal prosecutors."

Wampler also credited U.S. Representatives Harold Rogers of Kentucky and
Frank Wolf from Northern Virginia with helping secure the federal money
from an existing pool of funds for the Kentucky monitoring program.

State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, in a statement issued Tuesday, said
the program now can start its two-year pilot term to help investigators
track persons suspected of filling narcotics prescriptions for illegal sale
or personal use.

"I am pleased that the U.S. Department of Justice has agreed that this is
an important program for Virginia to begin," Kilgore said. "This grant will
allow us to create the monitoring system, which will prove to be an
effective tool for law enforcement to track and combat the abuse of
prescription drugs, particularly OxyContin."

Wampler said Tuesday that the grant will allow Virginia law enforcement
agencies to improve access to state records on prescription activity while
protecting citizens' privacy.

"This is data which doctors and pharmacists already have to make available
to police," Wampler said of the program. "Right now, police would have to
drive from pharmacy to pharmacy to collect it in an investigation, and this
just collects the information in one place."

"I'm pleased that the funds can be made available now for this program,"
said Del. Kilgore. "It will help make sure that the people who are doctor
shopping or pharmacy shopping for OxyContin will get caught."

Wampler and Kilgore, the attorney general, said that the program is
designed to protect the privacy of law-abiding citizens.

The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, according to state law, can only
be accessed by law enforcement agencies or grand juries with active
investigations or inquiries into suspected criminal activity, or if there
is a pending state Department of Health Professions disciplinary proceeding
against a dispenser of medications.

Release of any information beyond authorized persons is also a misdemeanor,
Kilgore added.

The state Department of Health Professions, which oversees the program,
evaluates requests for information before deciding whether access is
provided to information about a dispenser.

Wampler said that the records will include the prescriber, the dispenser
and the person receiving the medication. The program will exempt
information on nursing homes, hospitals and veterinarians because of
existing controls on how they dispense medications, he added.

Carrie Cantrell, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said that
an availability date for the Justice Department grant has not been determined.