GROUP SEEKS BETTER DRUG MONITORING

Cape Breton organization wants OxyContin off the island

SYDNEY - A Sydney group wants a more sophisticated monitoring system for
prescription drugs in Nova Scotia to help keep the painkiller OxyContin off
Cape Breton streets.

The Community Partnership on Prescription Drug Abuse includes
representatives from the district health authority, the local school board,
the University College of Cape Breton, Cape Breton Regional Police, the
RCMP, the provincial Community Service and Justice departments and local
doctors and pharmacists.

In an interim report Friday, the group made 10 recommendations, four of
which the chairman said need to be implemented immediately.

John Malcom, also the CEO and president of the Cape Breton district health
authority, said the most important recommendation is for the province to
create a computerized prescription monitoring system accessible to all
doctors and pharmacists in the province.

The curr'ent paper-based system doesn't lend itself to rapid identification
of prescription abuse, Mr. Malcom said.

For instance, even though there were signs as far back as 2000 that
OxyContin was being overprescribed, the monitoring system didn't detect it,
the report says.

Health records show that one in 200 Cape Bretoners received a prescription
for OxyContin in 2002 - three times the rate elsewhere in the province, and
with greater strengths of oxycodone, OxyContin's active ingredient.

In just over a year and a half, there have been 22 sudden deaths in
industrial Cape Breton connected to prescription drugs - two of those to
OxyContin - plus four murders, 11 attempted murders, multiple standoffs with
weapons and a half-dozen armed robberies. Addicts on drugs or looking for
money to get drugs committed many of these crimes.

Mr. Malcom said he'd add prostitution to that list, too.

OxyContin, known as hillbilly heroin for its buzz, sells for up to $80 per
pill on the street.

The community partnership also wants legislative changes that would require
pharmacists to report all cases of suspected prescription abuse and police
to look into each case.

Under the existing system, whether to report a case of suspected fraud is
left up to the individual pharmacist, and most don't report it, Mr. Malcom
said.

"They'd rather let the person go off on their way ... with a prescription
from a doctor that doesn't exist, than spend the day in court," he said.

Mr. Malcom is also asking the province to change the law to make it easier
for police and regulatory bodies to access people's private health and
prescription records.

"But that's something that needs to be debated in the public forum," he
said. "That's why we left the recommendation in the report vague.

"We as a province need to decide at what point it's acceptable for a
pharmacist to report a person to police - similar to reporting cases of
child abuse - when there's evidence of addiction," Mr. Malcom said.

The fourth recommendation is for all OxyContin buyers who don't have cancer
and are not in palliative care to sign a contract with their doctor and
pharmacist pledging not to misuse the drug. The contracts would be
registered and audited under the prescription drug program.

Health Minister Angus MacIsaac told reporters at the Westin Nova Scotian
hotel in Halifax on Friday that he supports the interim report's
recommendations.

Mr. MacIsaac pledged to upgrade the 11-year-old prescription monitoring
program in this fiscal year, and he hopes to introduce legislation this fall
on accessing personal medical information.

"The monitoring program and the legislation will go a long way to meeting
the recommendations of the report," he said.

The community partnership is to release another interim report next month,
making recommendations for treating drug addicts in industrial Cape Breton.
Mr. Malcom said the No. 1 priority for the group compiling the
recommendations is to make it easier for addicts to get access to methadone
clinics.