Effective today, Oxycontin is no longer available in Canada.
Police are hoping the move will put an end to a long and dangerous series of drug store holdups, including one in Calgary on Wednesday night.
A man armed with steak knife walked into the Shoppers Drug Mart on 17th Avenue southwest, looking for Oxycontin.
He ended up threatening one employee with the knife, but she wasn’t hurt.
The robber is described as 6’0’ tall with a slim build, reddish-blonde facial hair and blue eyes, wearing a dark hoodie with thin white pinstripes.
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Police hope that incident should be Calgary’s final Oxycontin robbery, now that the drug is no longer for sale.
While Oxycontin is no longer going to be available, it is being replaced by a new formulation called Oxyneo.
The suggestion is that this reincarnation of the narcotic is more difficult to crush and snort, something addicts do.
However, some are concerned that getting rid of Oxycontin is only going to create more problems, such as mass withdrawals of people who are abusing it.
There is a worry that addicts could get desperate, pushing them into harder more dangerous drugs, and potentially that could mean an increase in crime.
Linda Gardiner lost her son Chad after he became dependant on the morphine-based drug.
He committed suicide almost eight years ago.
She’s been fighting to ban this potent painkiller ever since, and she says replacing isn’t the answer
“The biggest fear is what’s going to happen to the ones who are addicted, that are getting it off the street. I think that that’s going to be a huge problem,” says Gardiner.
The new tablet, Oxyneo, is specially coated so it cannot be crushed.
The new formulation is designed to slowly release over a period of 8 to 12 hours making it less desirable for those looking for an immediate high.
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