PRESCRIPTION DRUG UNIT SUGGESTED

Panel Offers Several Ways To Combat OxyContin

The sale and abuse of prescription drugs is such a severe problem in West
Virginia that the State Police should have a special unit to handle it,
speakers told lawmakers.

"Street drugs now are prescription drugs -- that's the biggest drug on the
street," said William Douglas, director of the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy.

During interim meetings at the Capitol, lawmakers heard testimony from
Douglas and other speakers about the state's problems with the abuse of
prescription drugs like OxyContin and what is being done to deal with those
problems.

Lt. Pete Sutton said dedicating State Police troopers to the problem wasn't
a bad idea -- in theory.

But the State Police don't have enough troopers to form a new unit, he
said. He said it would take 15 to 20 troopers.

In December, officials said the agency had been so short on money that it
had left about 9 percent of its trooper positions vacant so it could use
the savings to run the agency. Lawmakers appropriated funds this year to
add 80 to 100 troopers to the force.

Dr. Elizabeth Scharman, director of the West Virginia Poison Center, told
lawmakers Monday about the extent of the state's problem with prescription
drugs.

She said her agency offers drug identification services over the phone to
help people avoid taking the wrong drug by mistake. But the center's phone
lines have been so overwhelmed with drug identification requests that it
ended the service in April, Scharman said.

She said drug dealers and abusers were using the line.

"You could hear drug deals going on in the background," Scharman said.

A representative of Perdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, outlined the
company's efforts to help doctors and law enforcement officials cut down on
abuse of its drug. Nancy Atkins, who oversees the state's Medicaid program,
told legislators about her agency's efforts to stop prescription drug abuse.

Dr. Ahmet Ozturk of Cabell Huntington Hospital's Pain Management Clinic
cautioned lawmakers not to take effective drugs such as OxyContin off the
market in an effort to stop abuse.

"The problem is not what drug you are using, it is the interaction between
the caregiver and the patient," he said.