I could be wrong, but I think you're talking about the oracle "long" datatype. You can manipulate "long" columns by using placeholders and bind values.

For example if you are trying to insert, instead of

$query = qq| INSERT INTO foo VALUES ( '$bar', '$baz' )|;
$sth = $dbh->prepare($query);
$sth->execute();
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try:

$query = qq| INSERT INTO foo VALUES ( ?, ? ) |;
$sth = $dbh->prepare($query);
$sth->execute($bar,$baz);
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$bar and $baz can now contain arbitrary data to be inserted into table foo. I find it cleaner to use placeholders in general, but I believe they are required for Oracle "long" data types.