PROGRAM BATTLING PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE IN PROVINCE

Triplicate Prescription Program Monitors Incidents of Abuse

With as much as 10 times the active opiate ingredient of other
painkillers, OxyContin is prescribed to deliver powerful time-released
pain relief.

But OxyContin -- or "hillbilly heroin" as it's called on the street --
is also dangerously addictive and said to be responsible for at least
250 overdose deaths in Ontario since 1998 and dozens more across Canada.

OxyContin, which contains oxycodone -- a narcotic extracted from opium
poppies, which are also used to make heroin -- began making headlines
earlier this week after a task force in Newfoundland recommended the
provincial cabinet allow police to have access to confidential health
records of addicts suspected of illegally obtaining the drug.

Officials from the Chinook Health Region weren't able to comment on
whether that approach is likely to catch on here, but say measures are
already in place which seem to be helping reduce prescription drug
abuse.

Kelly Eby, of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Alberta,
explained Alberta's Triplicate Prescription Program contains a list of
narcotics, including OxyContin, that only doctors registered with the
program can prescribe.

"About 85 per cent of the physicians in Alberta are registered," she
says. "We certainly believe it's had an impact (on curbing
prescription drug abuse)."

The program was the first of its kind in Canada when instituted in
1986.

When a prescription for one of the flagged drugs is written, the
prescriber retains one copy and two are given to the patient to take
to the pharmacy. Upon filling the prescription, the pharmacist keeps
one copy and forwards the other to the CPSA for entry in its database.

"If patient X is getting prescriptions from five different doctors, it
raises the alarm bells," says Eby, adding alternatively if the same
physician is writing a lot of prescriptions for one of the listed
drugs, that also raises concern.

She says the database is electronically monitored in addition to
regular checks made by data entry clerks.

In five years, Eby adds, the CPSA is also hoping to also connect
online with the Pharmacy Information Network so prescription details,
particularly those dealing with the flagged drugs, are more readily
available to medical professionals and incidents of abuse can be
detected sooner.

The CPSA is the regulatory body for physicians in the province and
should any suspect activity be detected, the organization will
investigate the doctor in question and, if warranted, can impose a
range of sanctions.

In addition to the TPP, other measures also exist in Alberta to help
medical professionals and police deal with cases of prescription drug
abuse.

According to the CPSA website, copies of prescriptions that are stolen
and then forged can be turned over to the police. Essentially, because
the forgeries are not actually written by a doctor, there is no
"health service" being provided under provisions of the Health
Information Act. Similarly, the pharmacist asked to fill the
prescription is not providing a health service.

The CPSA indicates fraudulently altered prescriptions can also be
handed over to police because the form is no longer considered "health
information."