Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jul 2012 Source: London Free Press (CN ON) Copyright: 2012 The London Free Press Contact: http://www.lfpress.com/comment/letters/write/ Website: http://www.lfpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243 Author: Randy Richmond Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/OxyNEO OLD SCOURGE RETURNS With easy-to-abuse painkiller pills off the market, London addicts are turning to a more dangerous drug, largely avoided in this city in the past -- heroin. "We were never a heroin town before," addiction worker Karen Burton said. "Now, we are seeing heroin coming into town." Even more frightening, more addicts seem to be becoming "polydrug users," using heroin with other drugs and increasing the risks of overdoses and health problems, she said. "The overdoses that will come with the heroin will be much worse that we've ever seen," she predicted. Burton is also hearing from her clients that dealers are dropping the price of heroin from $40 a point (1/10 of a gram) to $20, in a bid to attract business in the city. The painkiller pills were notoriously difficult to kick, but heroin is a whole new game that will make the pill withdrawal seem easy, she added. "When you are trying to get off heroin, you will dream of pill sickness." Burton is the needle and syringe program co-ordinator with the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection, which gave out 1.3 million needles in 2010 to about 3,100 clients. Other social service agencies contacted for this story referred questions to Burton because HIV Connection has a direct relationship with thousands of intravenous drug abusers. There's always been a small fringe of heroin users in London, addiction counsellors have told The Free Press. But Oxycontin held sway as the most popular illegal drug in London, crushed, then snorted or injected to produce a powerful high from the chemical oxycodone. In March, the makers of Oxycontin, Purdue Pharma, introduced OxyNEO into Canada. The OxyNEO tablets are harder to crush and when heated and dissolved in water turn into an unusable gel. That's forced addicts in London to turn to heroin, and as well, in larger numbers, to hydromorphone, a synthetic opioid that provides a high similar to heroin, and crystal meth. "I realize the drug companies are trying to do the right thing. It has backfired on our clients. This is all coinciding with OxyNEO," Burton said. Some clients are combining heroin and crystal meth, or heroin and cocaine, combinations that intensify the dangers of overdoses. "The two together is just an explosion waiting to happen," Burton said. "The other trouble with heroin . . . is you have no idea what you're getting. You don't know the purity of what you are getting because it's a powder. At least with a pill, you knew what you were getting." On drug forums, Oxy addicts share the complicated methods of turning OxyNEO tablets into powder. It takes several steps of microwaving, freezing and scraping the tablets. Social service agencies in London have issued a warning to drug users that breaking down OxyNEO can cause immediate health problems and a quick death. Snorted, the crushed OxyNEO powder can turn to gel in the nose and throat, causing death by suffocation, the warning notes. Injected, the powder has solidified in people's veins. Only a small number of clients at the needle exchange report trying to break down OxyNEO, Burton said. There's no market for the new tablets, forcing dealers to sell something else. "Nobody's buying it," she said. "It is very difficult to break down and depending on how you do it, it becomes even more dangerous. If you have OxyNEOS in your pocket now to sell, you'll still have them in a month or two." There are other signs heroin may be filling the gap. Since May, London police have seized about $180,000 in heroin bound for London. It's not clear if the drug was to be distributed here or elsewhere. A few years ago, there'd be no question, Burton said. "Heroin always went somewhere else." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom