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Is Northern Ontario ready to stop OxyContin?

As of today, OxyContin was delisted in Canada. Purdue Pharma Canada has stopped making it. Physicians are being told they must prescribe a new medication, OxyNEO, instead.

As of today, OxyContin was delisted in Canada.

Purdue Pharma Canada has stopped making it.

Physicians are being told they must prescribe a new medication, OxyNEO, instead.

But physicians say OxyNEO is just as addictive as OxyContin and it will be strictly regulated in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

In Ontario, physicians will be able to prescribe OxyNEO for patients who have been using OxyContin to control pain but only for a year.

After that, Ontario Physicians will be able to use it only to control pain in palliative care patients or only when they can prove that they were unable to control chronic pain in a patient with any other analgesic. 

It's much harder to crush or liquefy OxyNEO, says Purdue Pharma Canada, so it will be almost impossible for it to be snorted or injected.

Police forces across the country say that OxyContin is one of the most, if not the most, abused prescription medication ever.

Some refer to it as 'Hillbilly heroin' because it is a narcotic, or opioid, like heroin, because it produces a heroin-like high and because it is at least as addictive as heroin.

The difference is that it has been, up until now, much easier to obtain. 

Even now, OxyContin pills are going for about $20 a piece but, with Canada's delisting of it, those prices are expected to rise sharply as supplies dwindle and addicts become desperate for another hit.

It has replaced Percocet and Percodan, also prescription narcotics, as the drug of choice for many street users for more than 10 years and hooked a good number of addicts in the past decade.

Police say these addicts are turning to increasingly more brazen and violent means of procuring either OxyContin or money to buy it. 

The main reason it has become so popular, says a report on the drug released by Health Canada in 2004, is because the tablets are formulated to release a large dose of oxycodone (the medicinal ingredient in OxyContin) over a long period of time.

Tablets may have as much as 80 mg of oxycodone.

When a user crushes a tablet the oxycodone is released all at once and ingesting, snorting or shooting it up induces a high users describe as heroin-like.

Addiction to this narcotic is especially rampant among First Nation communities in Northern Ontario and this decision to suddenly remove it from the market is being heavily criticized because there are not enough facilities in place to deal with addicts withdrawing from drugs like narcotics at this time.

Estimates in Ontario indicate that 300-400 people die each year in the province from overdosing on OxyContin.

The decision to remove it from the market so suddenly, say critics, will plunge vast numbers of people into painful and debilitating withdrawal and there will be nowhere for them to go for help with their symptoms.

Among those critics is Algoma-Manitoulin MP Carol Hughes.

The full text of her release on this issue follows.

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Federal government has a responsibility to help First Nations deal with withdrawal of OxyContin in Canada: Hughes
 
OTTAWA – On Feb. 16th, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation reached out to the media in order to draw attention to the disproportionate number of band members’ affected by OxyContin.  
 
With a month’s end date to phase out the highly addictive opiate-based drug in Canada the Chiefs knew it was in for tough times when March rolled around.
 
Nishnawbe Aski Nation is not alone in this struggle and First Nations who rely on the federal government for primary Health Care delivery are looking for immediate help, Carol Hughes told the House of Commons today.
 
“This is going to particularly impact First Nations communities,” said Hughes. “In Cat Lake First Nation alone, the addiction has affected 70% of the community, and in the Sioux Lookout Zone, of 25,000 members, 9,000 are addicted to OxyContin”
 
Among the main concerns that public health officials are raising is that those affected will turn to other substances to fill the vacuum that will be created by the absence of OxyContin.  
 
Without some form of assistance, the First Nations, for the most part, do not have the resources to help the sheer number of people who will be affected by serious withdrawal symptoms.
 
“Enforcement and health agencies are ringing alarm bells about the potential of a serious withdrawal crisis,” concluded Hughes. “What exactly is the government doing to work with enforcement and health agencies to deploy a plan to prevent this looming health crisis?”
 
The Minister brushed aside Hughes’ concerns and accused her of fear-mongering despite the fact that Hughes had brought the legitimate concerns of First Nations to the attention of the one person who has the ability to help.
 
“It speaks to the government’s lack of commitment to their primary responsibility to provide health care to First Nations,” said Hughes outside the House. “I think they are being penny-wise and pound foolish if they can’t see the role they are obligated to play in this crisis.” 
 
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Carol Martin

About the Author: Carol Martin

Carol has over 20-years experience in journalism, was raised in Sault Ste. Marie, and has also lived and worked in Constance Lake First Nation, Sudbury, and Kingston before returning to her hometown to join the SooToday team in 2004.
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