NEWFOUNDLAND BATTLES 'MONSTER'

Oxycontin's Deadly Grip

Randy Druken was convicted for a crime he did not commit, but last week he
asked a Newfoundland judge to send him back to jail.

"I want to get off this. It's ruining my life," he said. "The life I'm
leading, I'd be better off dead. If I have to go to jail to do it, I'll go
to jail."

The 38-year-old has been addicted to the painkiller OxyContin since 1993,
when he was charged with the murder of his girlfriend, a crime DNA evidence
now suggests was committed by another man.

He has not been formally cleared and stole two DVD players while out on parole.

The drug's hold on him is so strong and the pills so accessible on the
streets of St. John's, he told the court the only way for him to escape
addiction is in jail.

Druken is only one of Newfoundland's growing population of addicts hooked
on the highly addictive prescription painkiller known as "Hillbilly
Heroin," "Oxy" or "Killer."

At least six people in the province have overdosed on the drug in recent
months, the highest incidence of any region in Canada.

In mid-December, the provincial government announced the creation of an
OxyContin task force designed to combat abuse of the drug and treat its
addicts.

"We are very concerned that this province is experiencing a rise in abuse
of OxyContin far beyond that of other provinces," said Elizabeth Marshall,
Minister of Health and Community Services, who announced the task force
along with justice and education officials.

The drug first hit the market in1995, manufactured by Purdue Pharma of
Stamford, Conn.

With as much as 10 times the active opiate ingredient found in other
painkillers, OxyContin was designed to help those whose chronic pain was
immune to earlier drugs, but was soon adopted by those looking for an
easily accessible high.

In the United States, abuse of the drug emerged first along the Eastern
Seaboard, in small communities with large populations of unemployed and
those suffering from disabilities.

As in the United States, OxyContin abuse in Canada is accompanied by home
invasions and armed robberies that target those with prescriptions for the
drug and pharmacies stocked with the product.

For over a year, police and pharmacists have watched the epidemic spread
through the Atlantic provinces and looked for ways to loosen its grip.

With Newfoundland's newly formed task force, their efforts have been backed
by officials from the education and justice departments.

The task force has also sought the assistance of Purdue Pharma. Last month,
a team from the Canadian branch of the company visited the province to
discuss treatment and control.

The task force will present an interim report by the end of the month
outlining the actions it feels should be taken immediately to combat abuse
of the drug. Long-term recommendations will be delivered by March.

The situation in Newfoundland is being monitored by police and medical
officials across the country and has prompted at least one other Canadian
city to take pre-emptive measures.

Yellowknife RCMP have made two seizures of OxyContin in recent months, and
while they do not believe painkiller abuse is a problem yet, they are
"certainly worried that it could become one."

Corporal Larry O'Brien, drug awareness co-ordinator for the Northwest
Territories, hosted a meeting of Yellowknife health professionals last week
to discuss ways to prevent legitimate pain sufferers from becoming hooked
on the drug and to keep it out of the hands of recreational users.

The most valuable insight came from the city's doctors, pharmacists,
addiction counsellors and homecare workers, Cpl. O'Brien said.

"When you're dealing with prescription drugs, it's an area they can help us
out," he said. "We need the medical community to help us with this. They're
the ones that are going to put [OxyContin] out there."

Everyone at the meeting was aware of the dangers of the drug, he said, as
well as the potential for it to take the streets by storm.

"There are no guarantees we're going to be able to stop it if it gets
rolling, but we've engaged the right people," he said.

Prescription drug abuse is not a problem in Canada's North, he said, where
alcohol and cocaine top the list.

Cpl. O'Brien said there are several hurdles to overcome in the effort to
limit prescription drug use to legitimate users, including confidentiality
issues.

At last week's meeting, several pharmacists pointed out that they are
professionally and legally obligated not to discuss patient prescriptions
with doctors, even if someone comes in to fill two prescriptions of the
same drug filled out by different doctors.

"Double dipping" is a major source of illegitimate OxyContin prescriptions,
and Cpl. O'Brien said the RCMP is researching ways to deal with the problem.

"We don't want to infringe on confidentiality, but we have to find a way of
getting that information out there without hurting anybody," he said.

On top of the debilitating effects of OxyContin addiction, there is also
the concern that it is a well-known gateway drug that can lead to other
addictions.

"The problem with OxyContin is that people will often fall back on heroin,"
Cpl. O'Brien said.

People who suffer from chronic pain get hooked on OxyContin for relief, he
said, but if the doctor stops prescribing it, they often start using
heavier, illegal narcotics.

"We create an OxyContin trade and then we create a heroin trade," he said.
"We create another monster."