USE OF OXYCONTIN BY ADOLESCENT STUDENTS

Although increases in the nonmedical use of OxyContin (oxycodone) in
the United States have been reported recently,1,2 few data are
available to assess whether such use has diffused into general
populations in Canada.

In a school survey of 7726 Ontario students in grades 7 to 12,3 1.3%
of the students (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.9% to 1.7%) reported
lifetime use of OxyContin, and 1.0% (95% CI 0.7% to 1.5%) reported use
in the past year. Similar to the situation for other illegal drugs,3
the majority (69%) of past-year users had used the drug only once or
twice. Reported use did not vary significantly by sex or grade but did
vary by region, with the highest past-year use occurring among
students in Northern Ontario (3.3%; 95% CI 1.8% to 6.1%).

To assess whether OxyContin users differ from the users of other
illicit drugs, we compared the drug-use profiles of 105 lifetime
OxyContin users and 909 users of illicit drugs other than cannabis and
OxyContin. The results suggested that OxyContin is merely an addition
to the repertoire of drugs used by adolescents. Among 13 illicit drugs
examined (e.g., cannabis, heroin, methamphetamine, barbiturates,
stimulants, tranquilizers, LSD, phencyclidine [PCP], hallucinogens,
cocaine, crack, ecstasy and methylphenidate). OxyContin users were
significantly more likely than nonusers to use only 4 of these drugs
(heroin, barbiturates, tranquilizers and methylphenidate). This
finding raises the spectre of potential polydrug reactions.

Of course, such data are not without limitations. For example, as for
other illicit drugs, we would expect some degree of underreporting of
OxyContin use. Also, our question was restricted to OxyContin use and
thus did not yield information about the use of oxycodone in general
and other opioids.

Still, these data, which constitute one of the first reports of
OxyContin use within a general Canadian population, allow 2 important
observations. First, at this point, there is no evidence of the
diffusion of OxyContin into mainstream adolescent populations. Second,
our Ontario estimates are lower than the most comparable ones
available from the United States. According to US data for 2005,2 1.8%
of 8th-graders, 3.2% of 10th-graders and 5.5% of 12th-graders reported
past-year use of OxyContin; the corresponding data for Ontario
students were 0.7% (95% CI 0.3% to 1.6%), 0.7% (95% CI 0.3% to 1.5%)
and 1.4% (95% CI 0.7% to 2.7%).

EDWARD M. ADLAF, ANGELA PAGLIA-BOAK AND BRUNA BRANDS

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ont.

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REFERENCES

1. Sees KL, Di Marino ME, Ruediger NK, et al. Non-medical use of
OxyContin tablets in the United States. J Pain Palliat Care
Pharmocather 2005;19(2:13-23.[CrossRef]

2. Johnston LD, O'Malley PM, Bachman JG, et al. Monitoring the future
national results on adolescent drug use: overview of key findings,
2005. Bethesda (MD): National Institute on Drug Abuse; 2006.

3. Adlaf EM, Paglia-Boak A. Drug use among Ontario students, 1977--2005:
detailed OSDUS findings. Toronto: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; 2005.