Children of drug-ridden Ontario First Nation reserve send pleading letter to elders

The children of the Cat Lake reserve in northern Ontario have made a desperate plea to adults in the drug-ridden community.

"We feel we don't know what to do to help you stop doing Drug," the Grade 6 students wrote in the point-form letter put together last week with the help of a local band member, according to The Canadian Press.

"We want you to stop because it hurts our family and we don't like it when we're angry."

"It hurts us and shoomis and kokum (grandpa and grandma) when you're doing drugs and you're not at home."

Cat Lake, about 400 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, is one of the northern First Nations communities inundated by addiction to prescription painkillers, especially OxyContin.

Officials estimate a majority of aboriginal adults in these communities are addicted. Cat Lake, population 700, has 172 confirmed and 250 suspected addicts, according to local officials.

OxyContin is a particular problem. The prescription painkiller is widely abused by people who crush it and then snort or inject it for a quick high.

Drugmaker Purdue Pharmaceuticals replaced OxyContin earlier this year with a version called OxyNEO that is harder to break up. And federal and provincial drug programs have tightened the rules for doctors to prescribe the drug.

First Nations leaders have warned the changes will trigger a wave of withdrawal among the heavily addicted aboriginal population, as well as a spike in prices for remaining illicit stocks - which can cost up to $1,000 a pill and a hunt by addicts for substitutes.

First Nations chiefs and doctors who serve the communities say Health Canada is not taking the aboriginal drug crisis seriously, CBC News reported.

"It would be nice to see Health Canada jump in with both feet and say 'Oh my God this is an epidemic, how are we going to fight it,'" said Dr. Claudette Chase of the Sioux Lookout First Nation Health Authority.

Health Canada is developing a policy for treating addicts, she said, but it should have been in place "yesterday."

Cat Lake Deputy Chief Dora Leadbeater said it's painful to see her community in the grip of addiction.

"You know, sometimes, when people call you, you don't really know what to do (or) how to help, especially when it's a child who's telling all this," said Leadbeater, whose community declared a state of emergency in January over the drug crisis.