Megan Oglvie in yesterday's Toronto Star opened her piece with this:
The narcotic painkiller OxyContin will soon be pulled from pharmacy shelves across the country, and addiction experts warn the move will spark a public health crisis in Northern Ontario where thousands of people in remote communities face involuntary and potentially dangerous withdrawal from the addictive drug.
This is Stephen Harper/Vic Toews esque and, on paper, sounds great. But, and this is huge, Oxy Contin ain't called Hillbilly Heroin for nothing. I don't use nor do I abuse but I am aware that when this stuff gets a hold of you it holds on hard.
Among the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, or NAN, which represents 49 First Nation communities in Northern Ontario, at least half of residents are addicted to OxyContin, said 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 9 years old to people as old 65,” Beardy said.
“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.”
His numbers may be a bit high; the low estimate is that out of 45,000 residents in NAN only [only?] 10,000 are junkies.
"On Thursday, Health Canada confirmed that as of Feb. 15 OxyContin had been pulled from the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program, which provides drug coverage for more than 800,000 registered First Nations and recognized Inuit."
Again, in the same way that mandatory sentencing looks good coz you wouldn't do it if you got time for it, pulling Oxy off the shelf looks good.
But it ain't gonna play out that way boys and girls.
WFDS
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