Ontario has no plans to crack down on skyrocketing painkillers

 

July 14, 2014 – Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News

Canada’s next painkiller crackdown won’t come from Ontario.

Its removal of OxyNEO from the Ontario Drug Benefit successfully sidelined Purdue’s replacement for what was once the most notoriously addictive opioid – OxyContin.

And the province now collects data on all prescriptions filled, not just those the government pays for.

But tackling Canada’s fastest-growing addiction is turning into a game of whack-a-mole: Prescriptions for just about every other potent painkiller are up – way up – in the past two years.

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‘This is about keeping people’s feet to the fire’: Report tackles prescription drug abuse

Rebecca Lindell and Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News

This isn’t the first slew of suggestions on how to tackle Canada’s “crisis” in prescription opioid misuse. But many hope it’ll be the last.

A report released Wednesday by the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse culminates a year-long mind-meld of people representing almost every group in the country with a stake in stopping painkillers from creating addicts, drug dealers and deaths.

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