OxyContin abuse is a nationwide problem

MAT-SU -- Abuse of the painkilling prescription drug OxyContin has been on the rise in Alaska and the rest of the United States for almost 10 years.

Alaska is one of the top five purchasing states in the nation for five of the Drug Enforcement Agency's 12 diverted drugs, including Fentanyl, D-Amphetamine, Oxycodone, Methadone and Meperidine, according to information on the DEA's Web site. Oxycodone is the active substance in Oxycontin.

In addition, in the year 2000, according to an intelligence report on that year conducted by the DEA, Alaska ranked second in per capita OxyContin prescriptions, trailing only West Virginia. In this study, Alaska was the only state west of Texas with a dispensing rate ranked as "high" by the DEA.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in an April, 2001, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment advisory, estimates that there are at least 15,000 abusers of prescription opioids such as OxyContin in the state of Alaska. Opioids are pain-relieving synthetic drugs whose effects resemble that of opium.

OxyContin, approved by the FDA in 1995, is a time-released form of Oxycodone, which is also a common ingredient in other painkilling medications. Terminal cancer patients and chronic pain sufferers are prescribed the pill orally, thus allowing up to 12 hours of pain relief, but abusers of the drug defeat its time-release mechanism by chewing or snorting the pills.

OxyContin sales nationwide exceeded $1.9 billion in the United States last year, according to research conducted by the Cincinnati Post. It bears the strongest warning label administered by the FDA, giving it the same addictive classification as morphine. The DEA states that daily OxyContin use can lead to physical dependence, a state from which withdrawal can occur if the patient stops taking the drug, but that addiction should not result from regular prescribed usage.

Since the drug's introduction in 1996, OxyContin prescriptions have risen to become the most commonly prescribed Schedule II narcotic in the United States, according to the DEA.

The high administered by OxyContin has often been compared to that of heroin, earning the drug its street names: "Killers," "OCs," "Oxys," "Poor Man's Heroin," and "Hillbilly Heroin."

A 2002 DEA report states that OxyContin overdose may cause drowsiness, skeletal muscle flaccidity, clammy skin, constricted pupils, coma, and death.

In recent years, deaths caused by abuse of OxyContin have more than quadrupled, according to records from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). OxyContin has been linked to at least 120 overdose deaths nationwide.

DEA reports indicate OxyContin abuse is leading to such fraudulent activities as "doctor shopping," which involves visiting multiple physicians with the aim of obtaining several prescriptions for the same drug, illicit Internet distribution of OxyContin and other prescription drugs, and an increase in burglary cases at pharmacies and residences containing quantities of the drug. Even employees of Purdue Pharmacy, which manufactures OxyContin, have been arrested for stealing large amounts, according to DEA intelligence reports.

Foreign distribution is also becoming a problem, prompting the DEA, in matters of border enforcement, to treat OxyContin increasingly less like a prescription drug and more like a traditional illegal narcotic. Reports of OxyContin being shipped in bulk to Mexico and Canada, whereupon it was illegally smuggled back into the U.S. for distribution, were rampant in the years following 1998. In response to this abuse, OxyContin shipments to these countries in 2001 were halted. However, OxyContin still enters Mexico and Canada -- and is thereby transmitted to the United States -- from other manufacturing countries.

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said in a 2002 presentation in Congress that, despite these misuses, the DEA had no intention of restricting legitimate use of OxyContin and similar drugs.

"DEA does not intend to restrict legitimate use of OxyContin, nor prevent practitioners acting in the usual course of their medical practice from prescribing OxyContin for patients with a legitimate medical purpose," Hutchinson said.

OxyContin abuse has received considerable popular attention owing to its status as a relatively recent problem and its difference from the traditional image of surreptitious drug abuse. However, it is important to note that OxyContin has been used legitimately by millions of patients, and abusers constitute only a very small percentage of all users of the drug.

"The abuse cases are relatively rare but have a huge and disproportionate impact in deterring doctors from prescribing the medication for patients who could truly benefit from it," said Dr. Eric Chevlen in a report for The Weekly Standard. "While abuse and diversion of OxyContin is clearly a problem that should not be neglected, the response of the Drug Enforcement Administration is both disproportionate and counterproductive."

Contact Daniel Spoth at daniel.spoth@frontiersman.com