Thursday, July 26, 2007

Painkillers invade Victoria streets

From the Victoria (BC) Times Colonist:
An increasing number of Victoria drug dealers are selling prescription painkillers -- sometimes referred to as hillbilly heroin -- on the streets, pushing the city toward a troublesome trend already plaguing major Canadian cities.

"I would term it as the evolution of the drug use in Victoria," said Const. Conor King, a drug expert. "What we're seeing is people who are heroin and cocaine dealers are becoming prescription drug dealers as well."

Those dealers sell Dilaudid, OxyContin and morphine sulphate -- opium-based painkillers from the same drug class as heroin. OxyContin's street name is "hillbilly heroin" because its abuse started mainly in rural areas where heroin was unavailable. Now it has supplanted heroin as the dominant drug in urban centres. ...more

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