Pubdate: Fri, 12 Apr 2002
Source: Kingsport Times-News (TN)
Copyright: 2002 Kingsport Publishing Corporation
Contact:  http://www.timesnews.net/index.cgi
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1437
Note:  Will not publish letters in print editions from online users who do 
not reside in print circulation area, unless they are former residents or 
have some current connection to Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

POTENT PAINKILLER OXYCONTIN DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health and Education hearings to examine the 
risks and benefits of the drug OxyContin were of special importance to 
Southwest Virginia. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Art Van Zee, a Lee County, 
Va., physician, the public has a better understanding of this relatively 
new and often abused drug. Dr. Van Zee believes that OxyContin's harm 
outweighs its benefits by light-years.

There are those who would agree with Dr. Van Zee. First introduced to the 
market in December 1995, OxyContin has been a factor in the deaths of more 
than 30 in Virginia and at least 120 nationally. According to Van Zee, 
OxyContin abuse has reached epidemic proportions and he has urged, through 
a petition drive, that the Food and Drug Administration recall the 
synthetic morphine until it can be reformulated to make it less prone to abuse.

In the last couple of years, in particular, OxyContin has caught the 
attention of many in Southwest Virginia, where its sale and abuse have 
become a near constant of news reports.

Only last year, the Wise County Commonwealth Attorney's Office announced a 
major OxyContin crackdown, charging 42 people with 88 counts of illegal 
drug activity. Of those, about 50 dealt specifically with OxyContin. A 
study of Lee County High School students indicated 20 percent of seniors 
had tried the heroin-like drug.

OxyContin's sales have already surpassed the $1 billion mark. To put that 
in perspective, that puts OxyContin's sales ahead of the much-publicized 
drug Viagra.

While OxyContin has been a godsend to thousands in great pain, its success 
has created special problems. The Drug Enforcement Administration says no 
other prescription drug in the last 20 years has been illegally abused by 
so many people so soon after it appeared.

Oddly enough, OxyContin was originally thought to be less prone to abuse 
because its narcotic was locked in a time-release formula so that it 
wouldn't give drug abusers the quick high they seek. But drug abusers have 
discovered that the time-release element can be defeated simply by crushing 
the tablet. It is then inhaled, injected or swallowed.

Unlike so many illegal drugs, OxyContin should be relatively easy to 
police. It is supposedly strictly monitored by state and federal health 
officials, from its production to its distribution.

Since OxyContin cannot legally be obtained without a doctor's prescription, 
it seems much of the abuse stems directly from the actions of unscrupulous 
or negligent physicians. Indeed, in Southwest Virginia, several physicians 
have been charged with illegally prescribing the drug.

While it would be a shame to have such a potent pain-killing drug taken off 
the market due to misuse and fraud, OxyContin's abuse is growing almost by 
the day, as is the crime that generates.

In medicine, the first law is to do no harm. While every drug can and has 
been misused to one extent or another, abuse of OxyContin is a crisis. 
Until better safeguards can be put in place or a reformulated version of 
OxyContin can be manufactured which is less prone to abuse, the drug ought 
to be severely restricted or shelved.

Comment on this article with a letter to the Your View section of the 
Times-News.
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