'Oxy' fight won't be won in courtroom

Bristol Herald Courier
Friday, August 20, 2004


OxyContin, a potent time-released narcotic painkiller, swept through our
region with the ferocity of a sudden storm five years ago.

Suddenly, there were dozens of overdose deaths, horror stories from families torn apart by drug abuse and an accompanying surge in crime as addicts struggled to fund their habits. By 2001, Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee law enforcers were calling the problem an epidemic.

It was against that backdrop that a handful of local residents decided to
take the drug¹s maker, Purdue Pharma, to court.

The plaintiffs alleged the drug was an outright danger ­ more likely to
cause addiction than its less-potent narcotic cousins. They also claimed
Purdue had hyped the drug as a miracle cure for all sorts of chronically
painful conditions, while downplaying its risks.

Purdue, of course, denied it all, but took steps anyway to curb the illegal
street trade of its product and to warn doctors and patients of the dangers of narcotic abuse. The company is still working on a new formulation of the drug that will foil street users¹ efforts to defeat its time-released coating by crushing it and snorting or injecting it for a heroin-like high.

Now, the company has scored a victory in court. U.S. District Court Judge
James Jones dismissed the case against Purdue this week, ruling the local residents had failed to prove OxyContin was the direct cause of their
problems. The ruling is similar to decisions in more than 65 OxyContin cases around the nation.

The three local men ­ a coal miner, a construction worker and a factory
worker ­ all suffered from back injuries and were prescribed OxyContin after years of treatment with other drugs. According to the judge, all were abusing those narcotics before they took OxyContin.

Testimony indicated the men were getting pain pills from multiple doctors, a practice known as "doctor shopping." They admitted buying pills on the street. And, they admitted using multiple pharmacies and paying cash for prescriptions to avoid detection.

These are problems that won¹t be solved by suing a drugmaker and seeking a big payout. In the past few years, OxyContin has gotten harder to come by on the region¹s streets, but the abuse of prescription painkillers hasn¹t waned. And, some police investigators believe the scarcity of OxyContin may have fueled the rise in methamphetamine use in our region.

Simply put, drug addicts are going to seek drugs and abuse them. We can feel sympathy for their families, but we shouldn¹t let emotion lead us to demonize one particular drug, which has done untold good for others in our region, including those suffering from terminal cancer.

Potent painkillers will always be a double-edged sword. The potential for
abuse is there, but it is balanced by the relief brought by the drugs¹
proper use.

Education, drug treatment programs and safeguards to prevent practices like "doctor shopping" are the way to fight this battle, not slugging it out in the courtroom.