Newfoundland and Labrador has a serious problem with abuse of OxyContin, a highly addictive painkiller. Seven deaths have been linked to the potent drug. A task force has studied the problem since last December, and made 50 recommendations this month.

The task force produced a good report, although it took a frustratingly long amount of time from the standpoint of those seeking urgent action on the OxyContin problem.

For its part, the provincial government did act swiftly to accept and implement some of the recommendations, or start work on them. There's not much disagreement with the call for increased education, and implementing tamper resistant prescription pads in the province for controlled substances. Obviously, there is a need for better information sharing in general among the stakeholders in this issue, through means such as a Pharmacy Network.

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