PROVINCE IN DARK ABOUT INFO ROUNDUP

Health Canada Asks Pharmacists About OxyContin Prescriptions

SYDNEY - The provincial Health Department had no idea Health Canada
was going to start collecting information from pharmacists in Atlantic
Canada about prescriptions of OxyContin and other oxycodone-based drugs.

Spokeswoman Michelle Lucas said Thursday the provincial department was
kept out of the loop.

"We found out when the letters went out to pharmacists."

She said the news that Health Canada was going to review how the
highly addictive painkillers are being prescribed came as a surprise.

"But any information collected about OxyContin is good," she said.
"Plus, Health Canada can look at the numbers for all of Atlantic
Canada, which is good because this is not just a Cape Breton problem,
it doesn't end at the causeway."

Oxycodone is the addictive active ingredient in narcotics like
OxyContin and Percocet. It has been linked to a number of deaths and
an increase in crime in Nova Scotia, most specifically in industrial
Cape Breton.

On Friday, Health Canada asked pharmacies across the four Atlantic
provinces to provide their records on prescriptions of oxycodone-based
products dating back to the start of this year.

Pharmacists are now required, as part of their licensing agreements,
to send Ottawa records including the name and address of customers,
the trade name of the oxycodone-based drug ordered, the quantity,
strength and form of the drug, the name of the doctor who prescribed
it and the date it was prescribed.

The agency can compel the information from pharmacists under federal
narcotic control regulations.

A provincial prescription drug monitoring program collects the same
information from Nova Scotia pharmacists.

Ms. Lucas said Nova Scotia could have supplied the information to
Health Canada, saving pharmacists the trouble of sending files to both
levels of government.

"But they never asked," she said.

The agency has said it will share the information with health
authorities across the region, but Ms. Lucas said the Health
Department has yet to be contacted.

"We're not really sure what we'll get back from the federal government."

A representative from the Health Department and the director of the
provincial drug monitoring program attended a meeting with Health
Canada officials in April in which recommendations were made to the
federal agency to do something about the rise in use and abuse of
oxycodone-based products.

Catherine Saunders of Health Canada said media coverage about abuse of
the narcotic painkillers prompted those meetings. She said provincial
agencies didn't specifically seek help from the agency.

She said Wednesday that Health Canada will be sharing information with
the four Atlantic health departments as soon as it's collected and
analysed.

Ms. Lucas also said Thursday that legislation suggested in an interim
report by a Cape Breton task force on prescription drug abuse is now
being written.

The legislation, which would allow pharmacists and police forces to
share personal medical information, will most likely be tabled this
fall, she said.

She also said the department is researching technologies that would be
used to automate the now paper-based prescription drug monitoring program.

Health Minister Angus MacIsaac has said he'd update the program this
fiscal year.