Well, I just thought I'd mention this news item because Oxycontin is something that is effecting communities not just in Atlantic Canada where the notably behind the times Health Canada says, but everywhere.I don't believe London, Ontario is much different from other communities. Previous to the advent of Oxycontin, there wasn't much of an opiate addiction problem here. Heroin, while present, seemed to be contained within a small community of users.
Now we have a methadone clinic, and all the problems associated with a high proportion of addicts addicted to opiates like Oxycontin and of course, percs.
This has caused not just devastation to the lives of people who have become addicted, but it has increased costs on our health care system, our police budgets, and decreased our individual safety.
The American fines probably don't even come close to covering those costs in the U.S., and probably make only a modest dent in the profits from Oxycontin that Purdue, and it's shareholders, have enjoyed and will enjoy in the years to come.
Here in Canada, it's not even being investigated.
Maybe the Hell's Angel's real mistake is in not wearing three piece suits and having dealers with initials after their names.
It's time the RCMP-- or even better, a police service with credibility-- investigate the pharmacuetical industry and doctors the same way they would investigate any other nefarious gang.
Because that's what they are, Bikers in Lab Coats, set to destroy a nieghborhood near you.
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posted 10 May 2007 04:28 PM
