While Appalachia continues to be ground zero for abuse of a revolutionary narcotic pain medicine, an ominous note about its spread nationally was sounded Friday by the U.S. attorney who is dealing with the epidemic.

        Abuse of OxyContin, a time-release compound developed to treat moderate to severe chronic pain, is destined to become a national problem, U.S. Attorney for Eastern Kentucky Joseph Famularo predicted.

        “In my 25 years' experience with illicit drugs from "meth' (methamphetamine) to cocaine, OxyContin will spread just like the others,” said Mr. Famularo, who is based in Lexington.

        “I can't tell you where or when it will spread next, but it is inevitable that it will,” he said.

RECENT COVERAGE

• OxyContin becomes the 'heroin of the Midwest'   • Physician caught up in OxyContin scheme   • OxyContin maker gives $25K

        OxyContin, also known and “Oxy” or “OC,” has become one of the most abused prescription pharmaceuticals in some areas of the country from Greater Cincinnati to rural areas of eastern Kentucky, western Virginia and southwestern West Virginia.

        Mr. Famularo's office orchestrated an eight-month drug investigation in eastern Kentucky that culminated last week with the arrests of 207 people on charges involving OxyContin trafficking or abuse. The investigation focused on Perry, Pike, Harlan and Clay counties, he said.

        Mr. Famularo described the arrests as the largest drug bust in Kentucky history. He said 52 people were arrested on federal charges and 155 on state violations, all drug-related. The arrested included upper-middle- and midlevel drug dealers, along with street dealers and abusers.

        Elements of Appalachia's economy may be factors in the drug's popularity there.

        “Our major industries are logging and mining — dangerous jobs,” said Britt Lewis, administrator of the Clover Fork Clinic, a medical facility in Harlan County. It serves a population of about 9,000 centered in Evarts, Ky., about 20 miles from Virginia.

        “We have a lot of job-related injuries, lower back pain — workers compensation claims,” he said.

        OxyContin legitimately works for those common ailments, so it is often prescribed in the area. “There are a lot of pain (management) clinics down here,” he said.

        Mr. Lewis also noted smoking, black lung and other occupational hazards contribute to high rates of cancer, for which OxyContin is the most effective pain management drug. Finally, he said, poverty prompts people who been prescribed the drug legitimately to sell it to drug dealers to improve their financial situation — “put a new roof on the house, or buy a new water heater.”

        Mr. Famularo said there is no criticism from his office of Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Conn.-based developer of the drug that many health-care professionals and their patients hail as the best available long-term pain management drug on the pharmacist's shelf.

        Mr. Famularo said Purdue has been cooperative and has made concerted efforts to educate law enforcement and health care professionals about the dangers of the drug if abused. The prescription pain reliever becomes highly addictive if abused but is safe and causes no ill effects if taken as prescribed by a doctor. Law enforcement officials have nicknamed OxyContin the “heroin of the Midwest” because it causes almost identical symptoms as heroin withdrawal — tremors, sweating, shaking, loss of bowel control.

        Officials of the U.S. Department of Justice said OxyContin has become a major illicit drug of choice in Ohio, West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, Maryland, western Pennsylvania and rural southwestern Virginia.

        The Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center listed deaths from OxyContin in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. Two Hocking County, Ohio, residents died last October of overdoses. There have been no reported deaths by the Hamilton County Coroner's office attributed to OxyContin and no deaths reported in nearby Northern Kentucky counties from the drug.

        Dr. Phillip Fischer, a Huntington, W.Va., pain specialist and board member of the Appalachian Pain Foundation there, said he is concerned OxyContin abuse and national publicity about it will dissuade physicians from prescribing a drug that provides wonderful benefits to people in pain.

        The foundation, which received a $25,000 grant from Purdue Pharma earlier this week, is a health care group that works to ensure residents of the region get effective pain care.

        “Education is the key to beating this problem. If we educate the physicians and health care providers and make it very difficult to obtain (unless needed), abusers will turn to something else,” Dr. Fischer said.

Winburn steps down from council
Bengals looking to settle seat suit
Pharmacies jockeying for drive-through room
Winds bring damage, outages
Chamber recognizes Cincinnati fixture
Mental-health system criticized
OxyContin use said likely to spread
SAMPLES: Fright sight
UC: Thou shalt do the right thing
Boy's project: surgery
Tower owner sues Hamilton
Vets to receive honorary diplomas
Anti-profiling lawyers team up
Audit: State's foster-care programs need work
Drug raid near Highlands nets 12
Four days in February for the birds
Horse farm's concrete icon missing
HOWARD: Neighborhoods
Immigrant sentenced to 10 years in slaying
Indictments issued in nursing home deaths
Judge allows depositions in mine case
Lebanon seeks way to buy gyms
Mayor orders files held
MCNUTT: Go Bouldering
Montgomery Inn opening in Ft. Mitchell
Mt. St. Joe offers high school honors program
Princeton Pike, Mulhauser crossings due for overhaul
UK president-designate pays calls in Capitol
Vandalism follows portfolio dispute
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report