'HILLBILLY-HEROIN' DEATHS ON RISE, DRUG FIGURES SHOW

Widely prescribed for cancer patients but often stolen, the prescription
painkiller oxycodone is such a popular street drug that oxycodone-related
deaths jumped almost fourfold in 2002, the most recent compilation of
Toronto drug-abuse statistics show.

"This surprised even those of us who have been following this drug for the
past several years," said Joyce Bernstein of Toronto Public Health, which,
together with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the coroner's
office and the Toronto Police Service, produced the city's 2004 illicit
drug-use report, released yesterday.

The oxycodone figures -- 27 deaths in 2002, compared with seven in 2001 and
two in 1997 -- are two years old because it takes that long to complete
toxicology tests, coroner Bonita Porter said.

"But I don't think it's going down. We continue to hear of cases where
individuals have taken oxycodone and died."

From Nova Scotia to California, medical authorities and police report a
similar surge in the abuse of what's commonly referred to as "hillbilly
heroin."

If provincewide numbers are a guide, oxycodone-related deaths in Toronto
could increase again. Ontario had 101 such fatalities in 2003, compared
with 73 the year before. However, statistics suggest that drug use in
Toronto is lower than elsewhere in the province.

Not all Toronto's street-drug news is bad.

Heroin-related deaths continued to fall from their 1994 peak, a drop
attributed to a 10-fold increase in the availability of methadone-treatment.

Cocaine-caused deaths also continued their decline, in line with a 15-year
downward trend. But occasional cocaine usage inched upward in 2003, to
encompass 3 per cent of Toronto adults, compared with 2 per cent in each of
the previous 12 years.

Use of hallucinogens, such as LSD, remained relatively rare. So too with
ecstasy: In 2002, about 2 per cent of Toronto adults admitted having taken
ecstasy; by 2003 the rate was below 1 per cent.

Although marijuana remains by far Toronto's most popular illicit drug -- 15
per cent of adults admitted smoking it in 2003, comparable to rates in
other North American cities -- in 1984, the peak year, it was more popular
still, with 17-per-cent usage reported.

The 2004 compendium suggests that overall patterns remained on a plateau,
Dr. Bernstein said.

"For instance, student use doesn't seem to be going up as quickly as it was
several years back. However, the rates remain elevated. So we're kind of at
a high spot."

Those figures reflect the city's mainstream population.

Among the homeless -- for whom no residential treatment is available in
Toronto -- the picture is considerably more bleak.

Within the ranks of thousands of teens who live rough on Toronto's streets,
startling rates of drug abuse and addiction emerge.

A survey of homeless young people taken in March found that 60 per cent had
ingested cocaine or crack cocaine the previous year; 84 per cent smoked
marijuana; 41 per cent swallowed prescription pills; and 37 per cent had
snorted or injected methamphetamine.

The report also looked at the city's student population. Among its findings:

Of the 6,616 junior-high and high-school students surveyed in 2003, 23 per
cent acknowledged using cannabis in the previous 12 months. But alcohol use
stood at 61.5 per cent, a 5-per-cent rise compared with 2001. Eighteen per
cent of those students also admitted having gone on binges at least once,
defined as at least five drinks in succession.

Among that same pool of junior-high and high-school students, about 30 per
cent had been in cars whose drivers were under the influence of alcohol.

Almost 8 per cent had used some type of inhalant, which can be fatal.

Bucking trends elsewhere in Canada, the use of methamphetamine, speed and
other stimulants remains low, about 3 per cent, among adult and student
populations.

Oxycodone Deaths Rise

In 2002, Toronto recorded 27 deaths from the drug, four times the annual
average of previous years.

1991: 1

1992: 4

1993: 2

1994: 2

1995: 5

1996: 3

1997: 2

1998: 5

1999: 5

2000: 6

2001: 6

2002: 27

SOURCE: RESEARCH GROUP ON DRUG USE