Illegal trafficking and use of otherwise legal but sometimes deadly drugs will be the focus of a beefed-up statewide investigative unit, state Attorney General Jerry Pappert said at a press conference yesterday.

Doctors, pharmacists, street dealers and users will be the subject of ongoing probes by the attorney general's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation unit.

Pappert said his office has increased the number of agents from 11 to 19 statewide, including an additional three investigators in Allegheny County.

The new agents will take to the streets and visit medical offices in the next two months, Pappert said.

Their task will be to crack down on the illegal acquisition and distribution of prescription drugs that can be addictive and lead to crimes and death.

Of particular concern to Pappert is the planned marketing of a generic form of the drug oxycodone, or OxyContin, and a relatively new drug, Actiq. They are powerful, highly addictive narcotics, he said.

Pappert said OxyContin overdoses caused 39 deaths over the past two years in Allegheny County, according to reports from the coroner's office.

"You don't have to go to a dark street corner in Pittsburgh to get these drugs," Pappert said.

Purdue Pharma, the company that introduced OxyContin in pill form as a powerful, time-released alternative to morphine, is about to make it available generically.

The company also is about to introduce another drug, Palladone, which Pappert said is four times more potent than OxyContin in pill form and six or seven times stronger intravenously.

The generic OxyContin would cost about half as much as the brand name. That could mean that anyone who obtains the drug -- either legally or illegally -- also could sell it for less, likely increasing the supply on the street.

Actiq, known on the streets of Eastern Pennsylvania as "perc-a-pops," had been intended to ease the pain of patients needing relief between normal doses of more potent drugs. A perc-a-pop is attached to a stick with a candy-flavored tip, like a lollypop.

Prescription drugs, Pappert said, are the second most abused drug in the state behind marijuana.

As the drugs become more easily administered and cheaper to buy, the potential gets higher for illegal sales and addictions.

In addition to bringing in more investigators, Pappert said he is supporting proposed legislation that would increase penalties for forged prescriptions and stealing prescriptions.