TRACKING DRUG ABUSE

Experts At Hearing Support Monitoring Some Prescriptions

While abuse of the powerful painkiller OxyContin has set off calls for
stricter prescription drug monitoring, such a system would almost certainly
show that other legal medications account for far more addiction and abuse,
a Nevada drug regulator told Connecticut officials Tuesday.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal plans to push for a new law modeled
after Nevada's that is aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse by
requiring pharmacists to regularly report certain narcotic prescriptions to
the state.

At an informational hearing at the Legislative Office Building, doctors,
drug company executives and law enforcement officials supported the idea as
long as the computer-monitoring system is designed to protect
confidentiality and the doctor-patient relationship.

Blumenthal has been demanding stricter narcotic prescription controls since
news reports this year suggested widespread abuse of and addiction to
OxyContin, the time-release painkiller made by Purdue Pharma of Stamford.

In Connecticut and elsewhere, people have been buying the pills on the
street for $5 to $80 each, then crushing and snorting them for a euphoric
high. Sometimes the pills are sold by people who get prescriptions from
doctors by claiming to be in pain. Other times, the drug is stolen en route
to pharmacies, said state police Capt. Peter Warren, commander of
Connecticut's statewide Narcotic Task Force.

Dr. J. David Haddox, senior medical director for health policy at Purdue
Pharma, agreed that OxyContin, like other legal drugs, could be dangerous
when used improperly. But he stressed that the long-acting medication has
improved the lives of untold numbers of people who would otherwise be
debilitated with pain from cancer and other illnesses or injuries.

Haddox said the company has already made changes in its manufacturing and
distribution processes to prevent abuse and that it supports an electronic
prescription reporting system.

Since Nevada instituted an electronic monitoring system in 1997, the rate
of doctor-shopping for prescription narcotics has been cut almost in half
and the number of narcotic drug doses received by patients believed to be
abusing legal drugs was cut from 9,351 doses in 1997 to 3,314 last year.

"You're going to see there are many other drugs involved in abuse than
OxyContin," said Keith MacDonald, director of the Nevada board of pharmacy.
He said hydrocodone, the painkiller sold under the brand name Vicodin, and
alprazolam, sold as Xanax and commonly prescribed for panic disorders,
topped Nevada's list of abused drugs.

In Nevada, pharmacists are required to send to the state the name and
address of each patient filling a prescription for a controlled medication
and the name of the doctor who wrote each prescription.

A computer in the state monitoring office is programmed to flag patients
who visited more than 10 doctors or pharmacies in a year - indicating the
potential for drug shopping. The names of the patients are then sent to the
prescribing doctors, who generally speak directly to the patient, MacDonald
said.

The state drug control office also contacts patients. Patients may be
referred to pain clinics or addiction services, MacDonald said. He said the
program costs $120,000 a year.

Blumenthal said he plans to propose a similar prescription drug- monitoring
bill during the legislative session, which begins next month.