RESOLUTION WOULD STUDY WHETHER TO BAN OXYCODONE

CHARLESTON (AP) - A proposal to ban oxycodone, the active ingredient in the
painkiller OxyContin, will be studied over the next year, the Legislature
decided Saturday. Senate Majority Leader Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, had
introduced a bill that would put oxycodone, the active ingredient in
OxyContin, on a Schedule I list of controlled substances that are
prohibited under West Virginia law.

Chafin said OxyContin abuse is rampant in southern West Virginia. A Mingo
County doctor pleaded guilty recently to prescribing the drug to a woman
who didn't need it.

OxyContin is the nation's top-selling narcotic painkiller. It is a 12-hour,
time-released medication meant to alleviate severe chronic pain.

While West Virginia needs to take aggressive action on OxyContin abuse, an
outright ban on the drug's main ingredient may not be the best course of
action because the drug is useful end-of-life care, Dr. Henry Taylor, the
state public health commissioner, has said.

Chafin said he did not want to take away people's right to have a drug they
need, but he thinks there needs to be more control over how the drugs are
dispensed.

The resolution (SCR43) requires a legislative interim committee to study
the issue.