OXYCONTIN ABUSE WORRIES NATIONAL PAIN SOCIETY

ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. -- Widespread publicity on the abuse of prescription
drugs such as OxyContin could have devastating results for those who
rely on the medication to control crippling pain, says the Canadian
Pain Society.

The focus on the illegal use of oxycodone-based drugs is unfairly
demonizing the drug, the Toronto-based society said in a news release
issued Friday.

"Certainly there have been cases of abuse of the drug. But we're
worried about throwing the baby out with the bath water," Gary
Rollman, society president, said in an interview.

"An enormous number of people can benefit and only a small number of
people are misusing the drugs."

Reports of abuse have created an atmosphere where physicians are
afraid to prescribe oxycodone drugs and patients are afraid to take
them, he said in a telephone interview.

The 1,000 members of the Canadian Pain Society, a chapter of the
International Association for the Study of Pain, include physicians,
dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and scientists
involved with the management.

Introduced in Canada and the U.S. in the mid-1990s, OxyContin is now
the No. 1 painkiller prescribed by doctors for cancer-related and
chronic pain.

There are no specific numbers available for prescription of OxyContin,
the latest generation and most potent drug containing the pain-killing
ingredient oxycodone.

Dubbed "hillbilly heroin"' for its popularity in rural areas with
lesser access to street drugs, it is linked to seven deaths in
Newfoundland and Labrador.

In Nova Scotia, 22 sudden deaths over the past 22 months have been
linked to abuse of prescription drugs, including OxyContin.

The Nova Scotia government is drafting legislation for a prescription
monitoring program.