Pubdate: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2012 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n415/a01.html Author: M.J. Milloy WAR ON DRUGS AN EXPENSIVE FAILURE Re: OxyContin replaced by explosion of small-town heroin use, Aug. 17 I was saddened, but not surprised, to read Megan Ogilvie's report of a recent spike in heroin use in small communities across Ontario, like my hometown of Peterborough, following the provincial government's moves to restrict access to oxycodone (OxyContin/OxyNeo). Despite the best intentions of Ontario policymakers, it appears that individuals unable to get these powerful synthetic painkillers are turning to illicit sources of heroin, their natural substitute, and dramatically raising their risk of death from fatal overdose and infection with HIV. Should these reports of increased heroin use be confirmed, it will be another example of how efforts to reduce illicit drug use by attacking the supply have failed and, in many cases, only served to exacerbate the damage addictive drugs do to individuals, communities and societies. For example, data released by the United States' own officials in charge of the war on drugs shows that although their budget increased by more than 600 per cent from 1981 to 2011, the street price of heroin dropped by 80 per cent while purity increased 900 per cent. At the same time, prison populations increased ten-fold while the numbers of overdose deaths and HIV cases soared as illicit drug users were denied access to life-saving preventative measures. To prevent the increase in deaths, diseases and misery that will come with the rise in heroin use, Ontario officials should urgently expand access to the medically proven tools that reduce the risks of heroin use. In particular, more people should be engaged in addiction treatment, especially methadone maintenance therapy, which has been shown the world over to reduce drug-related deaths, curb the spread of HIV and lower the social costs of drug use, like crime. Law enforcement-based schemes to reduce the supply of drugs have proven to be expensive failures; humane, public health-based efforts to address the demand for illicit drugs are the way forward. M.J. Milloy, PhD, Post-doctoral fellow, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom