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This article was published 23/2/2016 (1669 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The drug deal that’s alleged to be behind the killing of Cooper Nemeth spotlights the growing problem of prescription-drug abuse across the province, says a representative for the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

Cooper, 17, was missing for a week before his body was found dumped in a recycling bin in the Valley Gardens area late Saturday. Nick Bell-Wright, 22, is accused of second-degree murder in Cooper’s death and, according to a source, is alleged to have arranged for Cooper to sell Xanax to another man the night Cooper disappeared.

With the rise of fentanyl and other extremely powerful opiate drugs, the abuse of prescription drugs commonly used to treat anxiety, including Xanax, can go relatively unnoticed by comparison, said Sheri Fandrey, knowledge exchange lead at the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

Addictions to powerful opiate painkillers are still the most pressing concern in the province, "but there are other prescription drug types that are liable for abuse and tend to be overlooked a little bit right now," she said.

The same thing happened about a decade ago, when society zeroed in on the dangers of methamphetamine while cocaine use spiked, Fandrey said.

"Across North America, most agencies have been very concerned with opiates in the last five years. It just seems to be a problem that gets bigger and bigger. And while that’s been happening, less attention has been paid to things like the benzodiazepines."

Xanax is a brand name for a drug known as a benzodiazepine – it’s a depressant that affects the brain the same way alcohol does, leading to a numbness or an "enhanced drunk effect," when used recreationally, Fandrey said. It can cause fatal overdoses, especially when mixed with other depressant drugs, such as alcohol.

"Some people actually want to get to the point of being numb, and a lot of the depressant-type drugs can do that if you take enough of it. Some people want to feel that kind of groggy, wobbly sort of feeling."

Along with similar anti-anxiety drugs like Restoril, Xanax provides a buzz but doesn’t stay in the body for a long time, meaning users can quickly build up a tolerance to it, become dependent on using increased amounts of the drug and then suffer extreme withdrawal symptoms, Fandrey said.

People in all walks of life use this kind of prescription drug recreationally, Fandrey said, particularly young people (who use them because they’re generally easy to access), and women and seniors (who are more likely to be prescribed benzodiazepines). Users often get these drugs from friends and family, or steal them from medicine cabinets.

"Most young people aren’t paying a lot of money for them. They’re either getting them for free or paying a minimal amount," Fandrey said.

The drugs have a "halo effect" – they’re presumed safer than illegal street drugs because they’ve been approved for medical use, she said.

"One of the reasons they’re so dangerous is because people take them lightly and they don’t consider them to be harmful. They’ll take large doses, they’ll take mixtures and think nothing of it," she said.

"There isn’t a profile for somebody who gets into trouble with prescription drugs. It could be anybody."