Pubdate: Sun, 23 Jan 2005
Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Marin Independent Journal
Contact:  http://www.marinij.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/673
Author: Gary Klien
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

STUDENT'S DEATH PUTS OXYCONTIN ABUSE IN SPOTLIGHT

Former Tiburon Resident Found Dead In San Diego Dorm

Pamela Ashkenazy came home Jan. 14 to find a message on her machine - call 
858-694-2895.

It was the medical examiner's office in San Diego. They were calling with 
condolences about her 20-year-old son, Daniel, a junior at the University 
of California at San Diego.

"I just wanted to get to his dad and have his dad tell me it was a 
mistake," said Ashkenazy, a San Rafael resident. "I just couldn't believe it."

But now that the surreal has become real, Ashkenazy wants to sound a 
warning about what she believes helped kill her son - a plague of youthful 
experimentation with alcohol and OxyContin, a prescription painkiller 
reported to have a growing recreational following.

"It's very readily available," she said. "It's an epidemic. They're all using."

Daniel Ashkenazy, a 2002 Redwood High School graduate raised in Tiburon, 
was found dead in the off-campus home in San Diego that he shared with 
three roommates.

Ashkenazy had been up until about 4 a.m. that day and was planning to fly 
to Marin for a visit later that weekend. He had been drinking, but friends 
said they did not see him use drugs that night.

Around noon, roommate Michael Shapiro went to Ashkenazy's bed and tried to 
wake him, but he did not respond.

"He was purple," said Shapiro, 21, an Irvine native.

The housemates called 911, but paramedics were unable to revive him. 
Ashkenazy became case number 05-00088 at the San Diego County Medical 
Examiner's Office.

Whether OxyContin played a role in his death will be determined by 
toxicology tests, which could take six to 12 weeks to complete. But friends 
told investigators that Ashkenazy was known to take the narcotic.

"In the ante mortem (pre-death) events, it was noted that he might use or 
abuse OxyContin, but nothing was found at the scene," said coroner's 
investigator Jerry Simmons, citing a preliminary report.

Simmons added that hydrocodone, a common prescription painkiller, was among 
Ashkenazy's belongings, and that he had a prescription for it.

Sean Breuner, a childhood friend of Ashkenazy's who also attends UCSD, said 
OxyContin is a popular recreational drug in Marin circles and that 
Ashkenazy had mentioned using it himself.

Breuner said that although he has never used the drug, he knows it is easy 
to get.

"It had been around in Marin a lot, it had been around in San Francisco a 
lot," said Breuner, 20, a Redwood High grad from Kentfield. "I've seen it. 
I was home all summer and I've seen it around. People talk about it."

Local drug treatment officials say OxyContin abuse is not as common as 
heroin or methamphetamine abuse, but it appears to be on the rise.

"We deal with OxyContin addiction, and it's something that's clearly a 
topic in our field," said Ann Harrison, executive director of Marin 
Services for Women, a drug recovery program. "OxyContin is similar to any 
opiate or opiate derivative. The effects are similar to heroin, opium, 
morphine, a whole variety of opiate derivatives.

"The thing about OxyContin and the reason it's become so prevalent - not 
only on the coasts but in the middle of the country - is that it's a very 
strong drug. It's legal and it's legally transported. And it carries less 
of a stigma than heroin. It's very highly addicting, and it happens quickly."

D.J. Pierce, head of the Marin County Division of Alcohol, Drug and Tobacco 
Programs, said she has no statistics on OxyContin abuse itself but added 
that anecdotal evidence suggests the abuse has increased in the last 
several years.

"It's a time-release thing, so what's happening is that people usually 
crush it up and inject it - and that's the danger. They may use too much, 
or they use more than is prescribed as a pill form, to get the intense 
high," Pierce said. "When you do that, the time-release structure is 
bypassed. They get a rush that's similar to heroin."

OxyContin has been the subject of numerous reports about its habit-forming 
powers, and its acknowledged addicts include talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. 
Some news reports have put the number of OxyContin-related deaths in the 
hundreds.

The drug's use among the young also has raised alarms. Last month, a report 
released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of 
Michigan showed that OxyContin had been used by 5 percent of 12th-graders, 
3.5 percent of 10th-graders and 1.7 percent of eighth-graders in 2004. 
Researchers surveyed nearly 50,000 students at 406 public and private schools.

Jim Heins, a spokesman for Purdue Pharma, the Connecticut-based 
manufacturer of OxyContin, said the company has taken numerous measures to 
combat abuse of the drug, including public education and tighter shipment 
tracking.

The company also is working on a "blocking agent" that will neutralize the 
powerful narcotic when an abuser tries to crush the pill for injection.

"There's a number of things we try to do, but if people are bent on abusing 
something, there's only so much we can do," Heins said. "It's been a 
growing problem in rural areas, and we've heard about it in college 
communities.

"Obviously, drug abuse on college campuses is nothing new. If they add 
alcohol on top of it, they don't know how much their bodies can take."

Dr. Peter Eisenberg, a cancer specialist in Greenbrae, said OxyContin, if 
used properly, is no more addictive than any other prescribed narcotic.

"What's ironic is that because people have read so much about the dangers 
of narcotics, we as oncologists spend a lot of time trying to disabuse 
people of that notion when they really need it," Eisenberg said. "People 
who have pain typically don't get addicted to the pain medication we use."

Ashkenazy's death sent shock waves through both Marin and the UCSD 
community, where Ashkenazy was a political science major with a minor in 
history.

An honors student at Redwood, he was planning to become a lawyer, and 
shortly before his death had won a prized internship at a San Diego law firm.

Ashkenazy's death was announced by administrators at Sixth College, his 
school at UCSD, and reported in the campus newspaper, The Guardian.

The newspaper reported that Ashkenazy, who had been a member of the Delta 
Sigma Phi fraternity, had been attending meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous 
when he died.

But Breuner said Ashkenazy appeared to have no difficulty balancing his 
academic life with his social life.

"Dan was a charismatic, easygoing, fun guy," Breuner said. "He was one of 
the funnest guys I've ever known. He'd always bring a positive vibe into a 
room, no matter whether it was a good day or a bad day. His humor was, 
instead of telling jokes, just subtly making you laugh with the things he did."

Services were held last week at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael, and 
many of Ashkenazy's friends from San Diego were in attendance.

Ashkenazy is survived by his mother; his father, Dan Ashkenazy of Tiburon; 
his sisters, Rebecca and Yamit; a brother, Elliot; his grandparents Uri and 
Yael Ashkenazy of Israel; and numerous aunts, uncles and extended relatives.

Pamela Ashkenazy said she hopes her son's death will at least call 
attention to the risks of his substance abuse, and perhaps save the life of 
someone else.

"He was just an incredible, incredible human being, and I have to believe 
that his purpose was larger than we can imagine right now," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth