Pubdate: Mon, 29 Oct 2012
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2012 The Calgary Sun
Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.calgarysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67
Author: Michael Wood

TALKING SMACK

The exit of Oxycontin has left a chasm in Canada's underground drug 
economy and left addicts scrambling to fill the void, according to 
one of the nation's leading addictions experts.

Here on the prairies, a number of them are turning to heroin.

"A lot of my patients are reporting that," said Dr. Raju Hajela, the 
former president of the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine, who 
practises in southeast Calgary.

Abuse of opioids - opium-like drugs - exploded in Canada when 
Oxycontin hit and Hajela said governments and even many in the 
medical community "missed the boat" thinking addicts would seek 
treatment when Purdue Pharma stopped manufacturing the drug earlier this year.

"They thought that by pulling Oxycontin off the market would get 
people toward treatment, but that's not the case," he said.

"An opioid is an opioid is an opioid, so people just find another 
opioid rather than go for help. Neither in Calgary nor anywhere in 
Canada have we seen an increase in the number of people wanting treatment."

When Purdue Pharma pulled Oxycontin, they rolled out OxyNEO, a more 
tamper-resistant product that abusers can't inject, sniff or smoke.

Drug dealers in Calgary are capitalizing on that.

A local, longtime dealer whose trade once centred around cocaine has 
switched gears to heroin, a drug that has been historically rare 
here, and warned it's just a matter of time before more follow.

The arrival of Oxycontin signalled the birth of an "Oxycontinent," a 
new generation of North American opioid users with insatiable appetites.

"(Users) are still chasing that high, I know guys who say they'll 
take five or six (OxyNEO) and it doesn't do anything for them," said 
the dealer, who spoke to the Sun on the condition he remained unidentified.

More than 85% of his clients, who used to pay up to a dollar for 
every milligram of Oxycontin, are readily turning to heroin, which is 
far cheaper.

A tenth of a gram, which is good for three or four "hits," sells for $40.

On top of that, he said, wholesale cocaine prices have gone 
stratospheric in recent years. A kilogram that fetched around $30,000 
in 2003 now sells for between $65,000 and $80,000, a hike many link 
to the drug wars in Mexico where cartels still battle over trade route control.

While the cost has increased, the street price of a gram hasn't 
changed much, meaning dealers like him are taking the same risks for less.

Meanwhile, global production of opium - the raw ingredient from which 
heroin is derived - has increased and street prices have sank.

According to a 2012 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and 
Crime (UNODC), the price of a gram of heroin, when adjusted for 
purity and inflation, has plummeted since 1990 from US$1,031 to US$450 in 2010.

"It's everywhere now. Everywhere," said the dealer, fiddling with the 
beige boulders displayed on a small plate before him.

The half ounce will more than triple his investment. And there is no 
shortage of the commodity.

"I have trouble finding a bag of weed some days, I have no trouble 
finding this," he said.

Police, on the other hand, have yet to see an increase in heroin 
activity, but they know it's there.

"There's no doubt in my mind there probably is a little bit more 
heroin out there than there has been before, but there's also a 
number of pharmaceuticals that we are seeing out on the street that 
are opioid based," said Det. Colin Harris of Calgary's drug unit.

While most addicts can't get Oxycontin - small quantities hoarded 
just before Purdue ceased manufacturing are still popping up - police 
are still seizing quantities of other opioids, such as hydromorphone 
or morphine.

The fact police aren't seeing heroin yet doesn't surprise the dealer. 
Heroin use, he said, is taboo and hidden well by its users.

"If it isn't on paper yet, it will be.

"It's in the making now," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom