LOCAL FORUM EXAMINES OXYCONTIN ABUSE

If it wouldn't have been for OxyContin-the hottest selling retail
prescription painkiller on the market-Brian Patrick Elero might be alive
today, according to his aunt Gail B. Higgins of Waterford. Virginia law
enforcement authorities might have been able to reach him in time had they
had available a medical database listing OxyContin users and their doctors.
The database could help uncover cases in which patients would "doctor shop"
for physicians to prescribe potent painkillers in Virginia and other
states, getting more than what they need in lethal and fatal combinations.
What they don't use themselves they sometimes sell to a growing underground
network, according to law enforcement representatives. OxyContin has been
dubbed the next crack cocaine.

Elero, a 1999 graduate of Loudoun Valley High School who was attending
Virginia Commonwealth University, suffered pain following surgeries and
began taking Percodan and other painkillers including OxyContin a few years
ago. He went into a rehabilitation program twice in Loudoun, but it didn't
work. He was hooked for life.

The 20-year-old looked on the Internet and learned how to commit suicide,
taking an overdose of OxyContin and jumping off a bridge. He died Oct. 29,
2001.

"There needs to be monitoring between doctors," Higgins said. "It started
out with legal doctor shopping. He would go to seven doctors and get what
he wanted." All he had to do was say he had recurring migraines to get the
doctors to prescribe the painkillers, she said.

Higgins was among those in the audience of about 60 elected and law
enforcement representatives and citizens and doctors from Loudoun and other
jurisdictions at a forum concerning the illegal use of OxyContin sponsored
by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-VA-10) today in Leesburg.

Speakers included Virginia Deputy Attorney General Bradley B. Cavedo and
Laura Nagel, deputy assistant administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration.

Dr. Howard A. Heit of Fairfax praised the forum and pending Virginia
legislation to create a database of OxyContin users. With that information,
he could ascertain if a patient has an addiction to painkillers. If he
suspected criminal intent he could notify law enforcement.

"The prescription monitoring program is important for Virginia," he said.

Cavedo said the bill is on Gov. Mark Warner's (D) desk and is expected to
be signed. It would go into effect in 18 months, he said. But the bill
would only involve a database of criminal investigations underway for
OxyContin abuse and individuals' names would be listed in those
circumstances. The database, however, wouldn't show all patients legally
taking prescriptions of OxyContin and wouldn't show if they are taking
multiple prescriptions from different doctors in Virginia and other states.

Loudoun County Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson (R) said the drug has the
potential to be the number one choice for drug abusers. "What we're seeing
in surrounding jurisdictions is scary. It's very new for Loudoun County,"
he said. Robberies at three pharmacies were for OxyContin and the widely
publicized and a slaying near Keys Gap was believed to be related to
OxyContin though it hasn't been proven, he said.

"We have some street-level cases we're working," Simpson said, and some
that involve the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. On the street the drug
goes for about $40 for a 40-milligram tablet or $80 for an 80 milligram pill.

Armed robbers stole more than 5,000 tablets of OxyContin in recent weeks,
including at the Safeway CVS store and Eckerd Pharmacy stores in Sterling.

"The briefing is designed to help better educate the community about the
illegal use of OxyContin, particularly in light of the recent robberies of
pharmacies in Loudoun and Fairfax counties," Wolf said. "Imagine going into
your local pharmacy, drug store or grocery store to pick up a prescription
and witnessing an armed robbery in broad daylight. It's happening."

Banning the drug isn't under discussion in Congress, Wolf said, adding he
sees a solution if all states adopt prescription monitoring programs to
prevent abuse of the drug.

Wolf's appropriations subcommittee on Commerce-Justice-State and the
Judiciary is pushing the DEA to develop a more aggressive plan to combat
the illegal use of the drug.

The panel also set aside $2 million in this year's spending bill for the
Justice Department for a grant program to help states develop a
prescription drug monitoring system. Ideally, he said the programs would be
aimed at monitoring prescription painkillers.

The subcommittee also has asked the General Accounting Office and the
Inspector General of Health and Human Services to look into the marketing
practices of the makers of OxyContin. Wolf sees a positive sign with
manufacturers reformulating the drug to reduce chances for its abuse.

The illegal use of the prescription drug took hold in southwest Virginia
last year and has been slowly worming its way up I-81 to northern Virginia,
Wolf said. While hailed as a wonder drug for the terminally ill and for
people with chronic, debilitating pain, the drug is gaining wide popularity
among abusers who chew, snort or inject the drug for a euphoric,
heroin-like high.

While it is sold as a 12-hour time release pill, it is crushed to produce
powerful feeling of euphoria in users. The drug is opium-based. It has the
highest retail sales of all brand-name prescription drugs, DEA
representatives said.

Between May of 2000 and December 2001, 296 deaths have been attributed to
overdoses of OxyContin.

In Virginia, 49 people died between January 2000 and June 20001 as a direct
result of overdoses.

Problems with OxyContin's abuse could be whipped if all states have a
prescription drug monitoring program and database, Wolf said.