The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon could slow research into the extent of OxyContin abuse in Kentucky and Ohio and the rest of the nation.

        But those on the front lines say that addiction to the drug and the criminal consequences — theft, husbands forcing wives into prostitution, assault — are as much a problem as ever.

        Rojene Waite of the Drug Enforcement Administration said Friday the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks has made everything else a secondary priority. The agency has been collecting data from law enforcement officials, coroners and other agencies for months.

        “Once we've completed the data (collection), we'll release it,” Ms. Waite said. “It may take more time than people anticipated.”

        One reason, Ms. Waite said, is many agents have volunteered to become sky marshals on commercial airplanes.

        Tim Kilburn of the Kentucky State Police post in Hazard will want to see the first copy of the DEA report when it is finished.

        He said the number of illegal OxyContin sales in his eastern Kentucky town is about the same as earlier this year.

        “Our local doctors aren't writing (prescriptions for) as much OxyContin as before,” Trooper Kilburn said. “Instead, we're seeing the pills coming from Indiana and Ohio. They're trading the pills for marijuana.”

        Kentucky State Police Detective Dan Smoot, said the number of people who come to Kentucky to “doctor shop” for someone to write a prescription has gone down. But the byproducts of abuse are still prevalent.

        “There are so many people addicted,” he said. “All the clinics are full. OxyContin has taken over.”

        On Tuesday, state police, the Hazard Police Department and the FBI arrested 16 people on federal charges. They will be arraigned Monday in Federal District Court in Pikeville.

        The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in 1996, with larger dose amounts of 80 mg and 160 mg approved in 1997 and 2000, respectively. The company has subsequently withdrawn the 160mg dose from the market under pressure from the FDA.

        People who suffer from severe pain benefit from the drug's time-release capsule, which releases the painkiller oxycodone into the body over 12 hours.

        Abusers crush the pill and inject or snort the contents to get the full dose at one time. The feeling is similar to that produced by heroin.

        Purdue Pharma LLP, of Stamford, Conn., the manufacturer of the drug, is involved in 13 class-action lawsuits in five states — Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Florida.

        “These cases are still in the preliminary stages,” company spokesman James Heins said Friday.

        In addition, the company has produced a 10-point plan to combat abuse without compromising patients who legitimately need the drug.

        The plan includes:

        • Continuing education to health care professionals.

        • Tamper-resistant prescription pads.

        • Kits to help doctors distinguish legitimate patients and pretenders who just want the drug.

        • Brochures to doctors and pharmacists.

        The Enquirer reported in February that OxyContin was the most diverted prescription drug in the Tristate and that it was involved in at least 59 deaths by overdose.

        State Rep. Jack Coleman (D-Burgin) has prefiled a bill for the General Assembly session that begins in January. It requires a prescription for OxyContin to contain the diagnosis and limits prescribing the drug to diagnoses on the manufacturer's labeling or those approved by the FDA.

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