HILLBILLY HEROIN

Powerful Painkiller OxyContin Finding Its Way As a Street
Drug

Alice has watched her sister battle addictions for several years but
nothing has had the same hold over Barbara as a powerful painkiller
known on the streets as "hillbilly heroin."

Alice, a Grande Prairie resident who didn't want her full name used,
has spent the last few months watching Barbara slip under the spell of
the drug, which is normally prescribed by doctors but has recently
found its way to the streets.

OxyContin was originally developed to treat terminally ill cancer
patients and those suffering from debilitating chronic pain, but is
now being prescribed much more widely. Made by Purdue Pharma,
OxyContin is a synthetic opiate considered as addictive as morphine.

"Why not find out what that pain is instead of prescribing something
so potentially dangerous? She doesn't want to talk about it to us at
all," Alice said of her 46-year-old sister who has been living in
Peace River.

"She was in really bad shape. She was really out of it," Alice said of
the day Barbara was discovered early in July after a near-fatal
overdose. "We found some bottles of pills. She was admitted to the
hospital as an overdose but was released after a week, which is
unfortunate. As far as we know about the overdose, she tried to commit
suicide with pills. The pieces are starting to slide together."

OxyContin was dubbed "hillbilly heroin" for its popularity in rural
areas with lesser access to street drugs.

According to Barb Robbins, supervisor of counselling and prevention
services at AADAC, OxyContin doesn't have a high profile in the city
but it's something counsellors are going to keep an eye on.

"I wouldn't say it's something really common around here. We've had
some but it's not something we see a lot of," she said. "Like other
things, we see a smattering here and there but nothing alarming. It is
going to be something to watch for."

For Alice, her brother and another sister, watching Barbara hit rock
bottom has been the hardest part of the whole ordeal.

"Barbara has deteriorated so badly that she's 46 but looks at least 10
years older. She's thin and gaunt and looks as though she's had a hard
life. She has," Alice said. "Barbara has only ever hurt Barbara. She
doesn't hurt other people but we're trying to help her. She's turning
this into something horrible that we're doing to her and all we want
to do is help.

"There's nothing I can do. She's just not coming clean. This stuff is
not taking her pain away, it's just creating more pain. It changes her
mood and throws her into a severe depression, which is a heck of a
state to be in all the time. It's such an extreme drug. When it's
handed out by a doctor it needs to be supervised really closely. A lot
of eyes need to be opened that this is a problem."

Denise Wilson, a pharmacist at Shopper's Drug Mart in the Prairie
Mall, says OxyContin is often prescribed by doctors for patients with
a lot of pain but it's no more potent in small doses than long-acting
morphine tablets that doctors have been prescribing for years.

"It's something that is fairly common. It's hard to say if it has
increased in the last few years but we do see it for people dealing
with extreme pain," she said. "Ideally, it's something taken twice
daily and lasts for about 12 hours.

"Certainly there have been situations where it's being abused and
people are trying to obtain it fraudulently but we don't see much of
that."

OxyContin has been called a wonder drug since it hit the market 10
years ago for its time-release properties and ability to relieve
serious, chronic pain. The drug is currently being blamed for more
than 250 overdose deaths in Ontario since 1998.