Pubdate: Fri, 14 Aug 2015 Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB) Copyright: 2015 The Edmonton Journal Contact: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134 Author: Petra Schulz Page: A22 REDUCE DEMAND FOR DRUGS Re: "Gangs cashing in on fentanyl in West," Aug. 8 Your excellent article sheds new light on this issue, which has become a public health crisis. What was not mentioned is that an opportunity to offer treatment to those addicted to OxyContin was missed when it was reformulated and made harder to smoke or inject. Rather than offer solutions, we created a vacuum and allowed criminal gangs to fill the void. Another concern is that the purchase of a pill press, needed to make drugs such as fake OxyContin, does not need to be registered in Canada, while this is a requirement in the U.S. - a small change that could help law enforcement. I am passionate about this issue since we lost our youngest son Danny to an accidental overdose last year. He was on the road to recovery, but had a relapse and bought one more pill which he thought to be OxyContin, but turned out to be fentanyl. Since then, family and friends have struggled to come to terms with the loss of a wonderfully creative and loving young man. (His story was featured in your paper in January.) In the past year, I have been spreading the news about the dangers of fentanyl. I've also been lobbying for a change in drug policies to focus on reducing harm and keeping people safe until they can be successfully treated, rather than punished. I am part of mumsDU, a coalition of Canadian mothers who have lost children to overdoses. We want to see safe consumption, medication that can reverse the effect of overdoses, and treatment available coast to coast. The rising number of fentanyl deaths shows the war on drugs does not work and that we must shift our focus from ineffective strategies to reduce supply to proven strategies to reduce demand. Petra Schulz, Edmonton - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom