COLUMBUS — Autopsy reports indicate that abuse of the prescription painkiller OxyContin is spreading across the state.

        Illegal use of the substance in Ohio first was noted in southern counties near the Kentucky border about two years ago. It's now being found more frequently in central Ohio and spreading northward, said drug-abuse prevention officials.

        “OxyContin is picking up speed in terms of its availability and use,” said Stacey Frohnapfel, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.

        The medication, intended to ease chronic suffering, has emerged nationwide as many addicts' new pill of choice.

        Oxycodone, the active ingredi ent in OxyContin, showed up in 36 of the 1,216 cases in which the Franklin County coroner's office performed toxicology tests last year.

        Autopsy reports indicate that 16 of those 36 people — nine from Franklin County and seven from surrounding counties — took fatal doses of the drug, the Columbus Dispatch reported Sunday.

        “I find it is an alarming trend, since we only found it in one case in 1995 when it was introduced and up to 40 cases” in 2001, said James Ferguson, chief toxicologist for the coroner's office.

        Federal drug agents have estimated that OxyContin has played a role in the overdose deaths of nearly 300 people since January 2000.

        It originally was thought that OxyContin would be less prone to abuse than other drugs because its narcotic is locked in a time-release formula. However, abusers found that they can crush the tablet and then swallow, inhale or inject the powder to give themselves a powerful high.

        “We know there have been multiple pharmacy break-ins and robberies where the only thing taken was OxyContin,” Mr. Ferguson said.

        No Ohio physicians have been punished by the State Medical Board for illegally prescribing the drug. One Scioto County doctor voluntarily gave up his medical license after he was convicted in February of illegally trafficking in painkillers, including OxyContin, to nonpatients.

        However, it's likely that some doctors have been duped into writing prescriptions for patients who didn't really need the painkiller.

        Rep. Tom Raga, R-Mason, said he hopes to keep abusers from visiting several different doctors for OxyContin prescriptions by introducing legislation aimed at tracking prescriptions.

        Mr. Raga said he's awaiting a final draft of the bill, which would be designed to provide law enforcement officials and doctors with a database of prescriptions written in Ohio. The State Pharmacy Board would keep the information.

        Officials at Purdue Pharma, the Connecticut-based manufacturer of OxyContin, support such prescription oversight.

        “Doctors need to be careful,” said Tim Benedict, assistant executive director of the pharmacy board.

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