FOR APPEARANCE SAKE

The problem with Joseph Famularo's association with the maker of the highly
abused prescription painkiller OxyContin is one soley of appearance.

In a nutshell, it just doesn't look right for the former U.S. Attorney for
Kentucky's Eastern District, the prosecutor credited with filling a key
role in the law enforcement crackdown on OxyContin abuse, to now be serving
as an unpaid consultant for the pharmaceutical company that makes and
markets OxyContin.

It makes the former prosecutor's warnings about the drug whose abuse and
misuse he called "a locust plague rolling through southeastern Kentucky"
when he was in office ring rather hollow.

Since leaving his post in June after eight years as a federal prosecutor,
Famularo has stumped for the drugmaker and written an opinion piece for the
Lexington Herald-Leader in which he defended the company and its product.

"OxyContin is not the demon; its misuse is," Famularo wrote.

That, of course, is true. Famularo undoubtedly believes it. He is working
for the drug company for no pay though some expenses were covered for a
recent appearance on behalf of the pharmaceutical company. The drug's
maker, Purdue Pharma, says it has never inappropriately marketed OxyContin,
though some argue the drug which earns Purdue Pharma about $1 billion a
year is over-promoted. In fact, a federal lawsuit has been filed in eastern
Kentucky against the company over its marketing practices.

But the company says it promotes the painkiller responsibly as a way to
relieve the suffering of those who have severe, chronic pain, such as
cancer patients. OxyContin's abuse and misuse - from patients lying about
symptoms to get prescriptions, forged prescriptions, break-ins of
pharmacies and unscrupulous physicians who improperly prescribe the drug -
are in no way condoned by the company.

Still, what must the law enforcement officers and drug agents who've worked
so hard to make a dent in the abuse of OxyContin think about Famularo now
in allegiance with the drug maker?

It must be confusing for the families and individuals victimized by the
abuse of OxyContin that's now reached epidemic proportions in eastern
Kentucky, the region Famularo served. Authorities report misuse of the drug
has led to dozens of deaths in Kentucky with hundreds of arrests for
trafficking or abuse of OxyContin this year alone.

It certainly looks far different when federal prosecutors - Famularo was
not the first to go to work for Purdue Pharma - are now lined up with the
company whose product is so highly abused and illegally used.