Crisis looming for First Nations due to OxyContin

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The Canadian Press: TORONTO — First Nations leaders say a health crisis is about to be unleashed on northern Ontario reserves because thousands of residents addicted to OxyContin will soon be cut off from the prescription opiate.
The maker of OxyContin, which is up to twice as strong as morphine, will stop manufacturing the drug in Canada at the end of the month. As of March 1, Purdue Pharma Canada will replace OxyContin with a new formulation called OxyNEO.
OxyContin, taken orally in pill form, is a long-acting form of the highly addictive opioid oxycodone. But when the pill is chewed or crushed, then injected or inhaled, it produces a "heroin-like euphoria," Health Canada says.
OxyNEO will also be made with oxycodone, but it's formulated to make abuse more difficult: the tablet is hard to crush and when added to liquid, it forms a thick gel that stops oxycodone from being extracted for injection.
Leaders of Ontario's Nishnawbe Aski Nation, or NAN, said that with no OxyContin available, those addicted to the drug will go into withdrawal...Continue reading...

Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service: The Combined Forces Organized Crime Unit consists of members from The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, The Thunder Bay Police Service, The O.P.P.- Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, The R.C.M.P., and The Anishinabek Police Service.
Originating Service: Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service
Date of Release: February 14, 2012
(Thunder Bay, ON) On February 14, 2012, members from the NAPS Drug Enforcement Unit and Uniform along with the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau successfully executed a Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrant in Cat Lake First Nation.
Police seized approximately eight (8) Oxycodone 80mg prescription pills with a northern street value of three thousand eight hundred forty ($3,840.00) dollars, two thousand five hundred ($2,500.00) dollars in Canadian Currency, and numerous debt lists.

Fifty-five (55) year-old Percy OOMBASH has been charged with Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking Oxycodone and Breach of Undertaking.

OOMBASH was released on conditions and will next appear in court on June 26, 2012, in Cat Lake.
Cat Lake First Nation is located approximately 550 km northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
For Further Information Contact:
Sgt. Jackie George
Media Relations- email: jackie.george@naps.ca
Nishnawbe –Aski Police Headquarters
Thunder Bay, Ontario http://www.naps.ca/

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Cat Lake First Nation