Oxycontin prescription
OXYCONTIN, a powerful drug in the fight against pain, has also become an entry into heroin addiction for too many. The drug should not be banned, as US Representative Stephen Lynch and some state legislators propose, but physicians, patients, and the drug manufacturer can take steps to minimize its abuse.
''There are instances where it is the appropriate narcotic of choice," said Dr. Alan M. Harvey, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society and a specialist in the treatment of pain, in a telephone interview Friday. OxyContin is especially useful against the racking pain associated with cancer. A single time-released capsule lasts half a day.
''This drug used improperly will ruin your life," said state Senator Steven A. Tolman, Democrat of Brighton. He has met people who have crushed an OxyContin pill to unleash its full narcotic power, taken it for a sudden rush, then become addicted and moved on to heroin, which is cheaper.
Tolman is cosponsor of a bill to ban OxyContin in Massachusetts, but that would not stop drug dealers from smuggling it in from other states. Lynch would impose a ban nationwide, but heroin has been similarly proscribed since the 1920s, and that hasn't stopped its illicit use.
A survey in Chelsea found that most OxyContin abusers stole the drug from relatives. Amy Harris, who heads a drug treatment program in Chelsea, opposes a ban but does recommend a public education campaign to persuade patients taking the drug to keep it locked in their medicine cabinets. She also wants states to monitor physicians writing prescriptions for OxyContin.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has had a prescription-tracking program in place for several years. A bill in Congress, cosponsored by Senator Kennedy, would provide federal aid to help states establish or maintain monitoring programs to track doctors' prescribing patterns. OxyContin abuse is a national problem that would benefit from federally supported oversight.
Purdue Pharma, which started selling OxyContin in 1995, has been criticized for over-aggressive marketing of the drug. The company should not push OxyContin when less potent pain relievers will do. And it needs to keep working to develop a version that will maintain the timed-release benefits without producing the instant high craved by addicts.
That is a great challenge for drug researchers. The benefits of lasting pain relief fit neatly with the chemical qualities that invite abuse. A special commission established by the Legislature is also looking into ways to control illicit use. It needs to make sure that its recommendations would rein in abuse without hindering physicians from treating chronic, debilitating pain.
