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.
Click to compare Canada’s hydromorph contin consumption with the rest of the world.
Used to be that America could easily claim the title of world opioid capital. But when it comes to the most powerful prescription drugs, Canada is now ahead – in part because of higher hydromorphone use.
Michelle Siu for the Globe and Mail
Saturday, July 7, 2012 – Globe and Mail
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
Ontario is “strongly urging” the federal government not to let generic brands of the popular painkiller OxyContin into Canada once Purdue Pharmaceuticals’ patent runs out this fall.
The expiration of Purdue’s OxyContin patent on Nov. 25 opens the door for other companies to manufacture cheaper generic versions of the controlled-release oxycodone. Purdue will continue to make a new, tamper-resistant patented drug – OxyNEO – introduced to replace OxyContin earlier this year.
Photo by Michelle Siu for the Globe and Mail
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 – Globe and Mail
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
A Northern Ontario coroner says the province’s doctors and pharmacists need to take extra care in switching patients from OxyContin to other opioids, following the death of a man whose doctor changed his prescription and gave him an incorrect dose.
a business of misfits 