Teens typically glaze over when hearing about the complexities of prescription-drug addiction and its potential to ravage their brains and lives.

        But talk about explosive diarrhea, projectile vomiting and uncontrollable shaking, and you're sure to get two things: Their nervous laughter, and their attention.

        That's the approach behind the “Painfully Obvious” educational campaign led by the pharmaceutical manufacturer Purdue Pharma, maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin.

        Cincinnati was one of four regions chosen for the pilot radio campaign, in part because of its proximity to rural Kentucky areas that experienced a dramatic rise this year in abuse — and fatal overdoses — of the drug.Radio ads are under way.

First stop: YMCA
        The campaign's first local stop was the YMCA in Corryville, where six members of the art club gathered to hear about the perils of prescription-drug abuse. Presentations will be held in coming weeks in churches, schools and social-service agencies.

        “I heard about it, but never considered it,” Le'Andre Acoff, 15, of Corryville, said of OxyContin. “Why would anyone abuse painkillers? That's stupid.”

        He and Rodney Lee, 14, of Avondale, agreed that the message's effectiveness might be tied to its ability to make kids laugh — and think.

Dialogue is goal
        The youths said they'd been told in school about the dangers of heroin and designer drugs such as Ecstasy, but only one said the anti-drug campaigns ever mentioned prescription drugs.

        The program, implemented in cooperation with Community anti-Drug Coalitions of America, focuses on all prescription drugs but was prompted by media attention to the growing OxyContin problem.

        “The goal is to get a dialogue started with parents and their children,” said Pamela Bennett, a nurse and Purdue Pharma's director of advocacy.

        The Connecticut-based company acknowledged this year it continued to give out free seven-day supplies of the drug through doctors, despite increasing reports of abuse.

        It now faces numerous class-action lawsuits.

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