Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jul 2001
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2001 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Ellen Barry
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

DRUG'S MAKER SEEING TO AID HARD-HIT COUNTIES

Next year, schoolchildren in the Maine county hardest-hit by 
painkiller abuse will enjoy a new perk - a ''mini-MBA'' program in 
business development - thanks to a new patron: the pharmaceutical 
company that manufactures OxyContin.

Over the last five years, the Connecticut company Purdue Pharma has 
ridden OxyContin, a form of synthetic morphine, to annual sales of 
more than $1 billion. At the same time, illegal use of OxyContin has 
become a hugely popular recreational drug among young people in rural 
areas like Maine's Washington County, earning the nickname 
''hillbilly heroin.''

Announcing a pilot program that provides $100,000 in education 
funding, company officials said they are hoping to lessen the despair 
that leads people to misuse its product.

''One of the things we've seen in common, at least in the smaller 
parts of the country, is a sense of hopelessness,'' said Pamela 
Bennett, the company's advocacy director. ''I think the goal is 
really to provide these kids with a sense of hope.''

Purdue Pharma's gesture comes amid tension in the eastern United 
States over whether the corporation can be held responsible for 
OxyContin's wide misuse.

In West Virginia, the state attorney general has sued the company, 
contending that aggressive marketing had contributed to abuse. Seven 
plaintiffs are suing for compensation in Virginia, and the Maine firm 
of Lewis, Saul and Associates plans to file suit soon on behalf of an 
unspecified number of OxyContin addicts.

Company officials have said they were stunned by the wildfire spread 
of OxyContin abuse and the crime wave that accompanied it.

After analyzing social conditions in the nine counties where abuse 
has been highest, Purdue Pharma ''feels it needs to make a 
contribution to help pull [Washington County] out of its problem,'' 
said Dennis Bailey, a spokesman for the company in Maine.

So, in the fall, 20 teachers from nine counties in West Virginia, 
Virginia, Kentucky, and Maine will travel to New York to be trained 
by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Five of 
them, when they return, will teach Washington County students about 
the stock market and how to formulate a business plan, said Victor 
Salama, director of program partnership.

Private donors have frequently funded entrepreneurial training 
programs for at-risk teenagers, but the foundation has never 
partnered with a drug company before, Salama said.

In Washington County, where the problem cropped up first, abuse of 
prescription drugs like OxyContin and Dilaudid has affected life 
deeply. The addiction problem has driven away potential employers, 
Bailey said, and nurses have reported babies born in withdrawal. 
There has also been a spike in hepatitis C, which can be spread by 
passing needles.

One longtime activist hailed the company's contribution.

''I think the company is working very hard to follow through with 
what they feel is a moral obligation, and I applaud that,'' said Anne 
Perry, a nurse-practitioner and member of the Calais school board.

But another activist said Washington County's crying need is for 
treatment programs; none exists in the county yet, despite at least 
500 addicts. Other great needs are for prevention education and law 
enforcement, which is sparse throughout the remote county.

Coaching in small business administration, she said, is not a high priority.

''I'm not sure why they wouldn't have come up here and asked us what 
we want,'' said Carrie Perkins-McDonald, who oversees the Safe 
Schools and Healthy Students program for Washington County. ''I'm 
glad to see that they're trying to help us, [but they should] try and 
do it the right way.''

A company spokesman said, though, that the company would never become 
involved in treatment or law enforcement.

''Purdue Pharma is a manufacturer of pain medication. It's not our 
role to treat drug abuse,'' said James Heins, a company spokesman.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe