Daily BrewPhase-out of OxyContin for safer version could trigger crisis among addicted natives: chiefs and experts
A plan by the manufacturer of the powerful painkiller OxyContin to change the widely-abused drug to make it harder to misuse is causing a near panic among aboriginal leaders.
As of March 1, OxyContin tablets will be replaced with a new formulation called OxyNEO, which is harder to crush into injectable form or to chew for a quick high. Purdue Pharma Canada's OxyContin will be pulled off Canadian pharmacy shelves in the coming weeks, the Toronto Star reports.
But First Nations leaders and addiction experts warn the change will trigger a public health crisis, the Star says.
At least half the residents of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation's 49 communities in northern Ontario are addicted to Oxy, says Grand Chief Stan Beardy
"In some communities, it's as high as 70 to 80 per cent of people addicted to OxyContin, including kids as young as nine years old to people as old as 65," Beardy told the Star.
"We are very concerned that if they cease manufacturing OxyContin and if there is no replacement or treatment or detox centres for these people, there is going to be a major catastrophe."
Health care in communities amounts to nursing stations with doctor visits two to three days a month, Beardy said. They're not equipped to deal with a wave of addiction withdrawal.
Addictions expert Benedikt Fischer agrees the situation is dire.
"We are literally watching a public health catastrophe unfolding in slow motion," said Fischer, director of the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addictions at Simon Fraser University.
Fischer said losing access to Oxy could force people into using heroin, crack cocaine and other drugs. They will be more likely to inject drugs, raising the risk of disease transmission through needle sharing.
Health Canada says OxyContin was pulled from the Non-Insured Health Benefits program that covers drugs dispensed for more than 800,000 registered members of First Nations and Inuit.
But a spokesman says Oxy addicts are not getting the drug through government-funded legal prescriptions. Leslie Meerburg told the Star less than 100 Nishnawbe Aski members were being prescribed Oxy.
Withdrawal is not a concern for those switching to OxyNEO if the drug is taken as prescribed, she said.
"However, it is possible that some clients who obtained OxyContin through other sources may go into withdrawal when OxyContin is removed from the Canadian market and they are unable to find another source of supply," said Meerburg.
Beardy acknowledged most of the Oxy being used improperly is sourced via the black market, with one pill selling for up to $600.
Health Canada spokesman Stephane Shank said the government has decided not to cover OxyNEO for First Nations drug programs. He told the National Post that while Purdue Pharma says the new version will be harder to abuse, there's not much long-term clinical data to back up the claim.
It's conservatively estimated at least 10,000 of Nishnawbe Aski's 45,000 members are addicted to Oxy and other opioid drugs, Fischer said. The standard treatment for such addiction, methadone replacement therapy, is not available on many remote reserves.
Shank told the Post that Health Canada will pay for Suboxone, another substitute drug, on a case-by-case basis when it receives a request from a health-care professional.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation's chiefs declared a state of emergency over Oxy addiction in 2009 and have made repeated requests for help from Health Canada and the Ontario Health Ministry, The Canadian Press reports.
The Cat Lake First Nation declared a state of emergency last month, saying up to 70 per cent of its members—some as young as 11—were addicted to opioids. Earlier this month the chief of the Matawa First Nation said 2,000 members were addicted to opioids.
