Replacing OxyContin Could Spell Trouble

Les Louttit, Deputy Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, is predicting a health catastrophe in his Northern Ontario communities when the drug company that makes OxyContin stops making it at the end of February.

Purdue Pharma Canada is replacing the prescription painkiller with one that will be harder to crush, inhale and inject.

U of T addictions specialist Dr. Mel Kahan says what Purdue Pharma is doing is a good thing. But he says there is a tremendous lack of treatment in First Nations communities.