PILL TRAIL HARD TO FOLLOW

OxyContin Could Be Spreading In Various Ways, C.B. Cops Say

SYDNEY - One out of every 200 Cape Bretoners was prescribed the addictive
opium-based painkiller OxyContin in 2002.

That's at least three times the rate elsewhere in Nova Scotia, Health
Department statistics show.

Doctors gave patients in the Cape Breton health district 428,000 Oxy pills
that year. In Halifax, with triple the population, physicians prescribed
341,000 pills.

The doses dispensed in Cape Breton were also stronger, averaging 15,000
milligrams per patient compared to 10,000 milligrams in Halifax.

Health officials say the disparity may be due to higher rates of cancer and
industrial injuries or disease on the island. Police say no matter the
reason, the increasing number of pills is adding to a growing problem of
abuse and crime.

But both the RCMP and Cape Breton Regional Police say doctor prescriptions
are not the only source of supply on Cape Breton streets, some of which
have become known as "cottonland."

Sgt. Ken MacKinnon, head of the RCMP narcotics squad in Cape Breton, said
thieves hit pharmacies here and elsewhere, shipping pills home to street
dealers by mail, bus or a host of other means.

"Ten thousand Oxys don't take up a lot of room," he said. "It's a very
small box."

He said OxyContin is becoming so popular, it's starting to surpass
traditional taboo drugs like cocaine or heroin.

Meant to treat moderate to severe pain, Oxy is also sought by drug users
for its relatively cheap, powerful buzz.

On the street Oxy sells for $1 a milligram. An Aspirin-sized 80-milligram
pill - also known as a "green monster" - goes for $80.

The province only began tracking usage of OxyContin in 2000. By 2002, it
had become the second most popular narcotic prescribed in Cape Breton, next
to codeine.

The drug has been linked to three sudden deaths on the island in the last
month and to a rash of crime in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

"It's organized crime at work," Sgt. MacKinnon said.

"The ingenuity of the criminal mind or the drug abuser knows no bounds. If
they want to get the drug, nothing is going to stand in their way."

Last year authorities even issued a warning about criminals reading
obituaries and breaking into dead peoples' homes for drugs during the funeral.

Sgt. MacKinnon said residents in Cape Breton have become players in
organized crime rings based in other provinces that are fed by demand for
OxyContin.

"It's not unlike contraband liquor, contraband tobacco - when there's a
market, people find a way," Sgt. MacKinnon said.

"There's always been some abuse of prescription medications but OxyContin
over the past number of years has certainly risen."

A drug dealer from Sydney told this newspaper Sunday that the underground
pill market is thriving.

"There's all kinds of people into pills, many people are making a living
just by selling them," said the man, who didn't want to reveal his identity.

"I can go today to New Waterford and buy you 100 lots or 1,000 lots . it's
a big, big market."

The dealer said doctors are inadvertently feeding the local supply of pills.

"It's all part of the game," he said. "You go in, tell them you didn't
sleep for the last couple of nights, you're stressed out, and instead of
saying stay off the coffee, relax, they write you a prescription for Valium
.. anything you want."

Cape Breton Regional Police Chief Edgar MacLeod said prescription drug
abuse is out of control and often involves a different breed of criminal -
some have good jobs, education and homes.

He said if the province doesn't do something - like bring in a real-time
electronic tracking system for prescriptions - there will be more sudden
deaths.

Three Cape Breton men died in a span of five days last month after
"banging" prescription drugs in their veins. Addicts crush slow-acting
pills into powder and either snort it or mix it with water and inject it to
get an immediate rush similar to cocaine or heroin. One or two drinks of
alcohol with it can cause death.

Chief MacLeod warns there will be more death, more murders and more crime
if something isn't done. He cited 12 sudden deaths in the regional
municipality directly from drug and alcohol abuse in the past year. There
were also four murders and 11 attempted murders.

"It's not just a drug problem," the chief said. "This manifests itself in
thefts, purse stealing, shoplifting, it just mushrooms. All of these
incidences are generally tied into fuelling the habit ... this is having a
devastating effect on families, neighbourhoods and communities. In the past
year, it's become more and more pronounced.

"We definitely need a strategy," he said. "The community needs the
resources, we need the leadership here from the province ... this is not
going to go away, in fact, it's going to get worse."

Health Department spokeswoman Michelle Lucas said talks leading up to the
spring provincial budget have included a proposal for some changes to the
province's drug monitoring program.

She said she is unsure whether it will be contained in the final budget to
be brought to the legislature this spring.

According to court records, 33 Cape Bretoners died last year well before
their normal life expectancy, with drugs as a contributing factor.

Some died after overdosing on OxyContin or other prescription drugs that
the province doesn't even try to track, like benzodiazepines such as Valium
- - drugs used to control depression or anxiety.

That's the stuff that killed James Guy Bailey, 27, on May 17, 2000, as he
lay on a steel bunk inside Cape Breton Regional Police central headquarters
in Sydney.

His mother Lillian Bailey of Sydney Mines still mourns and said the
province hasn't done enough to help stop rampant prescription drug abuse.

"Mothers and fathers don't know what to do," she said.

"I wish they had something - when a child has to go to detox - that they're
kept in and not allowed to sign themselves out until completely clean," Ms.
Bailey said.

The overnight program for those severely addicted to booze and drugs was
cut by the local health authority last year. It offers a day walk-in clinic
instead.

Ms. Bailey's son had been a patient at the detox centre but signed himself
out days before his death.

"Cape Breton Island is really bad for it. Everywhere you look, they're
selling it ... and addicts would do anything for it, steal, con you, break
into your home," she said.

"I know they sell their bodies to get pills."

[SIDEBAR]

What Is OxyContin?

Derived from opium, the strong narcotic painkiller provides a 12-hour
controlled release of oxycodone, when swallowed, to curb moderate to severe
constant pain. It carries a minimum kick twice the strength of morphine and
doesn't damage organs with prolonged use. Oxycodone is an active ingredient
in other drugs too - pills like Percocet, Percodan and Tylox - but at
weaker strength. Those pills contain about five milligrams of oxycodone
while OxyContin contains 10, 20, 40 or 80 milligrams.

When chewed, snorted or mixed with water and injected, OxyContin's
time-release mechanism is destroyed and euphoria is instant. Death can
occur easily from overdose or if taken after consuming a few drinks of alcohol.

It's known on the street as "hillbilly heroin," "thrill pills," "Oxys,"
"green monster" or "cotton."

In April 2002, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reported OxyContin as the
direct cause of 146 deaths and a likely contributor in an additional 318
deaths.

First introduced in 1996 by Purdue Pharma, the company had sales passing
the $1-billion mark in the United States by 2002. More than a dozen
lawsuits have been filed since for allegedly understating the addictive
nature of the drug.

Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration