Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jul 2001
Source: Bristol Herald Courier (VA)
Copyright: 2001 Bristol Herald Courier
Contact: http://www.bristolnews.com/contact.html
Website: http://www.bristolnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1211
Author: Rick Wagner
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

SUBSTANCE-ABUSE CONFERENCE MAY LEAD TO SYMPOSIUM ABOUT TREATMENT, REHAB

ABINGDON -- A substance-abuse conference that focused heavily on the 
narcotic painkiller OxyContin wrapped up on Thursday, and officials 
said it likely will not be the last.

Much of the two-day conference dealt with the legal and social 
effects of the abuse of the drug, a time-release formulation of 
OxyCodone that can be deadly when snorted or injected.

It has been blamed for more than two dozen overdose deaths in the 
region and about 100 nationwide.

A second conference on OxyContin abuse -- termed epidemic by local 
authorities -- likely will be held to consider treatment and 
rehabilitation, according to officials of the Virginia Department of 
Social Services.

The latest theory in drug-abuse treatment -- that relapse often is a 
part of rehabilitation and not an indication of failure -- is not 
always accepted by the public or even professionals, a conference 
speaker said Thursday.

"We've got a lot of education to do, even among ourselves," said 
Aleta Spicer, director of the Occupational Enterprises program, 
commonly called the Coalfield Project.

The program covers eights counties -- Lee, Wise, Scott, Dickenson, 
Russell, Tazewell and Buchanan -- and the city of Norton.

Social workers said during the conference that they have seen an 
increase in the numbers of children being removed from homes and 
placed in foster care.

They attributed at least part of the increase to a rise in substance 
abuse, specifically the abuse of OxyContin.

About 250 people, most of them social workers, attended the 
conference, titled "A Community Epidemic: A Matter of Substance."

It grew out of a grant the Coalfield Project received for staff training.

Tony Fritz, director of the Western Region of the state Social 
Services department, expanded the conference to serve social workers 
from 21 Southwest Virginia localities from Christiansburg westward to 
Lee County.

Fritz said a second conference, assuming federal financial help is 
available, will try to bring in more law enforcement and mental 
health workers.

He and Spicer said part of the problem with rehabilitating OxyContin 
addicts is the expense.

"Medicaid doesn't pay," said Spicer, who is based in Lebanon.

Fritz said many OxyContin addicts go to Galax to a private treatment 
center, but he said the local project has grant money to provide free 
rehabilitation.

Through that grant, Spicer said, licensed clinicians see patients at 
primary health care clinics operated by not-for-profit Stone Mountain 
Community Health Centers.

Eric Hurt, a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's office in Abingdon, 
told the conference during a morning session that federal courts 
don't focus on rehabilitation and have little say in sentencing due 
to mandatory guidelines.

He said the only way a sentence can be reduced is if a defendant 
helps police catch others or testifies against them.

In a Lee County case, Hurt said, a supplier agreed to do just that. 
In six hours, 35 people who came to the man's house to buy OxyContin 
were arrested by federal authorities.
Barry Proctor, a state-certified capital murder defense attorney from 
Abingdon and a substitute judge, said federal cases generally involve 
the transport of drugs across state lines.

Proctor, who gave a keynote speech titled "Find the Balance: 
Enforcement vs. Treatment," said state courts have a little more 
sentencing leeway than federal courts but do have state guidelines 
that must be considered.

He said he represented a client who forged a check and tried to 
counterfeit $20 bills to buy OxyContin. The client overdosed while 
out on bail, the attorney said.

"You might as well have told him not to breathe" as to have told him 
not to use the drug, Proctor said.

At least 13 civil lawsuits have been filed against the drug's 
Connecticut manufacturer, Purdue Pharma.

One of them was filed in Southwest Virginia and claims the company 
aggressively marketed the drug while downplaying its risks.

Seven plaintiffs claim they were harmed by addiction to the drug or 
the addictions of others. The multibillion-dollar suit seeks to force 
the company to open free drug-addiction clinics to help OxyContin 
addicts. Strother Smith, an attorney who helped file the suit, said 
Wednesday during a question-and-answer session that OxyContin can 
kill even when taken legally in doses as prescribed. "That is 
nonsense," said Abingdon attorney Bill Eskridge, who represents 
Purdue Pharma. "No one has ever died from using Oxycontin ... 
prescribed by a physician (using) recommendations in the `Physician's 
Desk Reference.'"
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe