'HILLBILLY HEROIN' TARGET OF ALERT

Oxycontin Blamed for 250 Deaths in Ontario

Canada's chief coroners and medical examiners are preparing a national
alert on the abuse of the popular painkiller OxyContin, a drug they
say has caused 250 overdose deaths in Ontario since 1998 and dozens
elsewhere in Canada.

At the same time, Newfoundland's government is considering giving
police access to suspicious medical records and toughening its Medical
Act to curb the use of the narcotic that one Newfoundland police
officer has called the "nuclear bomb" of the drug trade.

Opium-based OxyContin was heralded as a wonder drug when it hit the
market almost 10 years ago because of its time-release properties and
ability to relieve serious, chronic pain that had eluded other treatments.

Its popularity soared, bringing in $1.3 billion U.S. for its maker,
Stamford-based Purdue Pharma in 2002. But, the prescription drug known
as "hillbilly heroin" for its use in the rural U.S., has hooked
everyone from black-market drug abusers to teens to celebrities, often
with deadly consequences. In the U.S., the Federal Drug Administration
has linked OxyContin to approximately 400 deaths.

In Ontario, chief coroner Dr. Barry McLellan said in the past five
years there were 300 deaths in which oxycodone, the opiate found in
OxyContin and the drug brand Percocet, was detected in the body.

In Nova Scotia, there have been at least 20 deaths, about eight in New
Brunswick and six in Newfoundland, where OxyContin prescriptions
increased by 400 per cent between 2000 and 2003.

Canada's chief coroners and medical examiners have been tracking
OxyContin overdoses for months. Recently they decided to prepare the
national alert, similar to past warnings about seatbelts, airbags and
bike helmets.

Meanwhile, measures being considered in Newfoundland are among 50
recommendations of a task force's report on the prescription painkiller.

Current legislation allows the province to share medical information
with police "when the protection of the public is an issue," Health
Minister Elizabeth Marshall said.

That data would include evidence of "double doctoring," where patients
approach several physicians to get prescriptions for the drug.

Ms. Marshall has asked cabinet for the authority to provide
information to police about such things as prescribing patterns. There
will be "stringent criteria" governing the release of medical files,
she said.

She said the right to privacy would be balanced with the public good.
Cabinet will also look at toughening laws.