Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Rob Shaw, Times Colonist Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) PAINKILLERS INVADE VICTORIA STREETS 'The Evolution of Drug Use' Brings Hillbilly Heroin into High Fashion An increasing number of Victoria drug dealers are selling prescription painkillers -- sometimes referred to as hillbilly heroin -- on the streets, pushing the city toward a troublesome trend already plaguing major Canadian cities. "I would term it as the evolution of the drug use in Victoria," said Const. Conor King, a drug expert. "What we're seeing is people who are heroin and cocaine dealers are becoming prescription drug dealers as well." Those dealers sell Dilaudid, OxyContin and morphine sulphate -- opium-based painkillers from the same drug class as heroin. OxyContin's street name is "hillbilly heroin" because its abuse started mainly in rural areas where heroin was unavailable. Now it has supplanted heroin as the dominant drug in urban centres. Users can chew the pills. But for a powerful and immediate high, they are crushed, mixed with water and injected like heroin, said King. The painkillers are extremely addictive and result in painful withdrawal symptoms similar to heroin, said King. But they are legal and fairly easy to obtain because they can be prescribed by doctors for a variety of pain issues, including injuries, surgery recovery and cancer treatments. Abusers create fraudulent prescriptions, travel to multiple doctors, or fake pain to get a surplus supply, said King. Victoria police are only beginning to recognize the importance of opioid street drugs, said King. But the trend has already ripped through much of Canada. In the Maritimes, it is considered an epidemic. Prescription painkillers are now the dominant street drug in cities such as Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, according to a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal last November. "In many cites we don't even have heroin anymore," said researcher Benedikt Fischer, who wrote the study and works at the Centre for Additions Research B.C. at the University of Victoria. "The opioid market in many Canadian cities is dominant ... That's probably the case in Victoria as well." On the street, the pills are worth between $5 and $20 each, said King. A typical bottle with as many as 60 pills can fetch more than $1,200. With such a high street value, medicine cabinets have become a key target for burglars in residential break-and-enters, say police. Opioid drugs also have some advantages to heroin. They are measured, accurate, doses. In comparison, heroin is often only 60 per cent pure and cut with such things as baby powder to increase the profit for dealers. Heroin can also come in bad batches when mixed with other drugs, sparking violent and sometimes fatal reactions. While the issue has only recently caught the attention of Victoria police, opioid drug abuse has almost assuredly been a force here for years, said Fischer, who was in Toronto yesterday working on a study to determine the source of such drugs in Victoria and Toronto. The study should be done in a few months, he said. Victoria police plan to speak to pharmacists around the city next month to discuss how so many pills are ending up in the hands of dealers. "If the doctor gives somebody a 25-day supply and they get it filed every 30 days, it looks perfectly normal," said Wayne Kroschinsky, a pharmacist at Sukhi Lalli Pharmaceutical Care Clinic in Victoria. "We've got no way to know if they're only using half of it and selling half of it." Meanwhile, police have yet to notice a similar trend in other Island communities. Port Hardy RCMP Cpl. Marty Hooper said it's not a problem on the north Island. "I can't even think of one incident [where] we've come across it yet," added North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP Const. Susan Boyes. "But I'm sure it will only be a matter of time." Yesterday, OxyContin's maker and three executives were ordered to pay a $634.5-million fine for misleading the public about the drug's potential for abuse and addiction. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake