Odds and ends, 6/7/07

Here's another one of those "it's about time" items:

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An eastern Kentucky county plagued by widespread use of OxyContin is seeking litigation against the manufacturer of the powerful painkiller. The Pike County Fiscal Court has unanimously voted to authorize a local attorney to determine whether the county has a legal case against OxyContin’s maker, Purdue Pharma, Judge-executive Wayne T. Rutherford said Wednesday.

County records show that since 2005, Pike officials have dumped more than $7 million in bonds and coal severance money into the fight against prescription drug abuse.

Rutherford said OxyContin, a powerful slow-release painkiller, is the main culprit.

“We have an epidemic in this county,” he said, adding that prevalent abuse of the drug has given “us the reputation of being the OxyContin capital of America.”

Rutherford said county officials decided to pursue a potential lawsuit after the drug maker and three of its current or former executives pleaded guilty last month to misleading the public about the drug’s risk of addiction.

... OxyContin — the brand name for oxycodone — has been blamed for hundreds of deaths across the country in recent years, since the slow-release effect can be circumvented by crushing and snorting the pill. The drug has been called “hillbilly heroin” in drug-ridden Appalachian states like Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.

Sheriff Charles “Fuzzy” Keesee said prescription drug abuse is so rampant in Pike County — geographically the largest county in Kentucky — that his jail underwent a $5.6 million expansion in 2005 to deal with the problem.

Well, if states can do it, why not counties?

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As far as I know, I've never had a kidney stone. This photo and article just might get me drinking less caffeine-free Pepsi and more water this summer.

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