PAIN PATIENTS PAY PRICE FOR OXYCONTIN'S BAD RAP

MDs Reluctant to Prescribe Controversial Narcotic to Legitimate
Users

WINDSOR - Legitimate chronic-pain sufferers who require a
controversial and powerful class of narcotics claim they are being
denied access to the drugs as doctors clamp down on prescribing them
amid abuses and overdoses.

Doctors say inadequate controls on the dispensing of opiate-based
painkillers such as the prescription drug OxyContin are fuelling
addiction and drug trafficking in cities across Canada, and some are
calling for a provincial drug registry to track prescriptions and head
off abuse.

Critics say there are inadequate safeguards to prevent addicts from
going from doctor to doctor for repeat prescriptions and legitimate
patients are paying the price.

Windsor resident Nancy Radigan considers herself one such patient.
After seven back surgeries, the 48-year-old had been taking Oxycontin
for her pain.

"All the drug abuse is hurting people who really need those drugs,"
said Ms. Radigan, who has been unable to find a doctor to prescribe
painkillers since her family physician closed her practice July 31.
She has been on the medication for four years.

"I had six names from my doctor, but none of them would touch me when
they saw I was on a narcotic. I've gone to 30 doctors and no one will
take me. It's a scary feeling because my doctor gave me prescriptions
for three months and when they're finished, I'm in trouble."

Ontario's chief coroner has linked oxycodone, the opiate found in such
prescription painkillers as OxyContin and Percocet, to more than 250
overdose deaths since 1998.

Introduced in 1996 as a wonder pill for cancer patients, oxy can
deliver a heroin-like euphoria if taken improperly. But abuse of the
drug has rippled across the country, from a suicidal London, Ont., man
who leaped off a downtown parking garage, to a 100-per-cent increase
in armed robberies in St. John's, Nfld., that police blame on the drug.

A Newfoundland task force has recommended giving police access to the
confidential information of addicts suspected of illegally obtaining
prescription drugs.

While critics argue such power is an invasion of privacy, the idea of
an electronic registry linking doctors to pharmaceutical information
is gaining popularity.

The Canadian Pharmacists Association, which backs the registry, says
it would cost about $50 million per province -- less if all provinces
are involved.

The systems cited as being the most effective are in British Columbia
and Alberta, where electronic medical records are being put in place
to dissuade patients from going to different doctors.

If they do, "it will show up on the electronic health record," said
Alberta consultant pharmacist Anjli Acharya. "This should definitely
be used across the country, and I believe it will because there's no
stopping it."

Calling it a "troubling issue," Ontario Health Minister George
Smitherman pledged to work with Health Canada and regulatory bodies to
curb oxy abuse. Canada's coroners and chief medical examiners are
planning a national alert on oxy this fall.