After a multistate summit Thursday in Richmond, Va. on illegal use of the powerful painkiller OxyContin, drug maker Purdue Pharma agreed to take steps to help educate the public and enforce proper use of the narcotic.

        Authorities from Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland met with senior officials of Purdue Pharma LC and members of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in a discussion that lasted several hours.

        Virginia Attorney General Mark L. Earley called the meeting after abuse of OxyContin resulted in at least 32 overdose deaths in the state. Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton has also called the abuse a near epidemic with 59 deaths statewide attributed to the drug.

OXY NETWORK

State and federal investigators are trying to develop a strategy to stop an elaborate network by which the painkiller OxyContin is being abused and illegally sold across a multistate region including Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.     Here's how the network works:     • In one direction: Residents of Ohio and other regional states outside Kentucky get prescriptions for the painkiller by either legal or fraudulent means. They then resell the drugs in Eastern Kentucky.     • In the other direction: Kentuckians evade an electronic prescription tracking system by crossing into Ohio and other adjacent states to “doctor-shop” or use out-of-state pharmacies. They then head back to Eastern Kentucky to sell the pills.

        Ohio officials say they have discovered OxyContin abuse is not as prevalent in Ohio as it is in Kentucky and Virginia, but did find the information-sharing meeting helpful.

        “We're making a commitment to come up with some sort of plan so we can, shoulder to shoulder, address this issue,” said Joe Case, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's office.

        “We will soon sit down and discuss how we can fit what they're offering with our overall plan.”

        Mr. Case said the illicit use and sale of the drug — a medication that is legally prescribed to treat chronic, severe pain — is concentrated in the southern end of Ohio, especially in Cincinnati, although there are isolated pockets in other areas.

        Jim Heins, a spokesman for Purdue Pharma, said the company is committed to addressing the problem.

        “Any of it can be done in Kentucky or Ohio based on what the medical community and law enforcement want to do in those states,” he said.

        The plans have already been tailored for Virginia.

        Here is what the pharmaceutical company is offering:

        • To pay for the production and distribution of tamper-resistant prescription pads to physicians in affected areas willing to use them to help curb the diversion of controlled substances. These special pads have six security features, including the patented “Copyban” technology, which will deter forgery. For example, “VOID” appears on photocopies, making them useless to drug diverters.

        • To co-sponsor, with the attorney general's office, a series of medical-education programs that will cover the laws governing the prescribing of controlled substances, responsible pain assessment, the appropriate uses of pain medications, and techniques to prevent people from illegally obtaining controlled substances. These education programs will be targeted at doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other health-care practitioners.

        • To fund the development of an educational presentation on the dangers of prescription drug abuse that is geared to middle school students.

        • To make a $100,000 grant to fund an independent study to evaluate the effectiveness of prescrip tion monitoring programs in reducing the incidence of drug diversion.

        The study will be implemented in cooperation with the attorneys general, other members of the law enforcement and medical societies.

        The goal of this study will be to reach a consensus among the medical and law-enforcement communities on how neighboring states can adapt the best practices of Kentucky and other state prescription monitoring programs to provide the best public health benefit with the least amount of intrusion into good medical practice.

        “We would like a prescription- monitoring program that crosses state lines,” Mr. Heins said.

        Officials in several states have commented on the effectiveness of Kentucky's monitoring system and may try to emulate it.

        “We are very pleased with the effectiveness of Kentucky's prescription monitoring program, and together with the newly-created Kentucky task force, we will gladly assist in any efforts to establish similar programs in other states,” said David MacKnight, Kentucky deputy attorney general.

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