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The picturesque Ontario town that Victoria (Tori) Stafford calledhome is still coming to terms with being labelled as a problem areafor prescription drug abuse more than three years after theeight-year-old girl disappeared outside her elementary school andwas murdered. Tori s mother, Tara McDonald, has admitted to taking the painkiller Oxycontin on Apr. 8, 2009, the day herdaughter went missing in Woodstock, Ont. McDondald also says shehad twice previously encountered Terri-Lynn McClintic, who pleadedguilty to first-degree murder in her daughter's death. McDonald said one of those meetings occurred when she went with herpartner James Goris to the home of McClintic s mother to buyOxyContin, a powerful painkiller that produces a heroin-likeeuphoria when crushed, then inhaled or injected. 'There's nothing to do in this town for us kids, except for doingthe drugs. ' Seana Harvey, recovering OxyContin addict Revelations like that, coupled with the intense scrutiny on thelegal proceedings involving McClintic and her co-accused MichaelRafferty convicted Friday of first-degree murder in the case have many in the town and surrounding Oxford County feeling likethey ve been tagged as trouble spot for drug abuse. But that maynot necessarily be the case. "I think per capita it's probably not that much different [inOxford County] than just about anywhere else," said Bill Baleka,the director of The Cynthia Anne Centre for Addiction in Woodstock. Rob Parsons, the pharmacist and owner of a Pharmasave outlet innearby Ingersoll, agrees. I've worked in a number of towns between London and Longlac. Ican tell you that in pharmacies across Ontario there are a lot ofpain medications or at least have been in the past - prescribedand dispensed, he said. Victoria (Tori) Stafford was last seen Apr. 8, 2009. (Canadian Press) I can't honestly say that I think it s any higher in OxfordCounty compared to any other places that I ve worked. According to a 2008 report by the public health body the OxfordCounty Drug Task Force, which Parsons has worked with, there is no indication that youth in Oxford County abuse substances to anygreater degree than their counterparts in other parts of theprovince." Unique risk factors However, the report notes that there are some factors that up therisk for substance abuse in Oxford County and exacerbate theeffects of misuse. The lack of transportation and suitable, stable, housing, a weaksense of belonging, increased number of early school leavers andthe rural nature of the county contribute to increased risk ofsubstance abuse. That assertion seems to be backed up by two visitors to Parson spharmacy, 25-year-olds Matt Straw and Seana Harvey, who firststarting using prescription drugs in their teens. Tara McDonald, the mother of slain Victoria (Tori) Stafford, hassaid she was taking OxyContin the day her daughter went missing. (Dave Chidley/Canadian Press) Harvey, came to the pharmacy to get methadone, which she is usingto wean herself off OxyContin. "There's nothing to do in this town for us kids, except for doingthe drugs, she said. [OxyContin] just made me feel numb and away from everybody. I wasdepressed. It just made me feel more alive it felt like morepeople would listen to me. Both Harvey and Straw, the parents of 13-month-old twins, said thedrug has had an incredibly damaging effect on their lives. You lose friends. I've buried now two friends. I was stabbed whenI was 17, said Straw New drug still being abused When it was first introduced in 1995, OxyContin was heavilymarketed to doctors who were assured it was safe and non-addictive.They began prescribing it to treat moderate to severe pain,typically in people suffering from osteoarthritis, back and neckproblems, as well as palliative patients and those recovering fromcancer surgery. However, the addition of long-acting oxycodone the formcontained in OxyContin to Ontario's drug plan in 2000 coincidedwith a spike in opioid-related deaths and a corresponding jump inabuse. The company that manufactures OxyContin is now no longermanufacturing the drug. Purdue Pharma Canada has replaced OxyContin with a new formulationcalled OxyNEO, which it says is harder to tamper with. Rob Parsons says the introduction of OxyNEO, a painkiller that ispurportedly harder to tamper with than OxyContin hasn't deterredusers from abusing it. (CBC) But both Parsons and Straw say that hasn t deterred users, whohave found ways to tamper with it so it can be abused. And thedamage caused by OxyNEO can potentially be worse, because it breaksdown differently than OxyContin, which then could result in anoverdose, said Parsons. Straw and Harvey, meanwhile, said they are quitting OxyContin forthe sake of their young boy and girl. But while they are on the road to recovery, they know others arejust getting started. You see younger kids getting into it and older kids getting out.That's the next generation, said Straw. I am an expert from SZLRIDER.COM, while we provides the quality product, such as Led Candle Light Bulbs , China T8 Led Tubes, Dimmable E27 Led Bulb,and more.
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