Oxycodone becoming gateway drug to heroin

Recent reports seem to show that another (if not the final) step in the evolution of heavy-duty drug addiction is taking place.  Oxycodone and its kindred opioids have apparently become more expensive and, due to official enforcement efforts, harder to obtain and use. As a result, individuals who have a dependency on the illicit use of these drugs are turning to a cheaper and easier to obtain replacement ... heroin.

Unlike the story of the little Dutch boy saving his country by putting his finger in the dike, the efforts to fight drug dependence demonstrate that a success against one situation creates another, or more, to replace it. It is in the same vein as the adage that when one drug dealer is taken off the street, a dozen more show up to take his place. Fortunes can be made in black-market oxycodone dealing. Canadian dealers can go into Toronto and  buy a hundred Oxycontin pills for $40 each and then resell them on in isolated rural communities for $500 to $600 each. It's hard to find that kind of return on investment and plenty of people are willing to take the associated risks. As a result, Oxycontin was recently taken off the legal prescription market in Canada, to be replaced with a tougher to abuse formulation called OxyNeo.

Reports during the past few days from Ohio reveal the results of making Oxycontin harder to abuse. There, those with addictions to the opioid have found that heroin is much cheaper and more easy to obtain. Ohio is an example of that some reports say is a national trend to increased heroin use with Mexican drug dealers cranking up their efforts to supply the demand.

Observers note that very few abusers start out with herion.  However, many are now finding oxycodone as a gateway drug to it.