OTTAWA - The RCMP says it is difficult to crack down on the black market for addictive prescription drugs rampantly funnelled into Canada's remote First Nations communities.

Ken Cornell, the national co-ordinator for the chemical diversion program for the Mounties, says it's a challenge to stop smugglers who send drugs, including the painkiller OxyContin, to reserves by plane and by mail.

"It is difficult, there's all different kinds ways to be able to hide these things and get them into communities," Cornell said in an interview with QMI Agency.

Canadian manufacturer Purdue Pharma recently announced it will stop making OxyContin beginning in March. The drug company is rolling out a new form of the medication called OxyNEO, which it claims is more abuse proof.

"Purdue Pharma is working with health authorities to introduce OxyNEO as a replacement for OxyContin across Canada," Randy Steffan, the company's vice-president of corporate affairs, said in a statement. "Purdue Pharma elected to develop OxyNEO in an effort to make the tablets more difficult to be manipulated for the purpose of misuse and abuse."

First Nations leaders have also sounded the alarm about the changes.

"We are very worried about our brothers and sisters who are addicted to this drug. There is nothing to replace it," said Mike Metatawabin, the deputy chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. "In our remote communities we are expecting a mass withdrawal of people who are addicted to this."

Simon Fraser University addiction researcher Benedikt Fischer believes more than 50% of adults on some reserves are addicted to OxyContin. He says smugglers often sew OxyContin into diapers or hide pills in food products.

On the enforcement end, the RCMP says it looks for intelligence so it can focus investigations, but different agencies like aviation companies and Canada Post are trying to do their part to monitor the black market for addictive pain killers often abused on reserves.

The RCMP is also focusing its efforts on major centres, where it hopes to stave off the source.

Saskatchewan has joined Ontario and the Atlantic provinces in taking steps to stop funding OxyContin and the new version of the drug, OxyNeo.

Manitoba and British Columbia are among provinces that have yet to decide whether to fund OxyNEO once OxyContin is discontinued.

Kristy.Kirkup@sunmedia.ca

On Twitter: @kkirkup