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Tuesday March 6, 2012 Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
Student, parent reaction mixed as educators begin walkout
Teachers hit the pavement as strike starts
ADDICTION
‘PANIC’
by Sheila Reynolds and Tracy Holmes IT WAS a chilly, wet beginning to their three-day strike, but Surrey and Delta teachers, some carrying plastic-covered signs to protect them from the freezing rain, took to the sidewalks outside their schools Monday morning regardless of the weather. For Dean Pacheco, a counsellor and Grade 12 teacher at Sullivan Heights Secondary in Surrey, it was important he be there to show his opposition to government legislation he said will not only be hurtful for teachers, but make things worse for students. For example, he said, the proposed law removes the current cap on the number of students with special learning needs that can be in one classroom. That alone, Pacheco said, will make it virtually impossible for those kids – as well as their classmates – to get the attention they need. “We all really care about the kids and we want them to do well,” said Paul Sharples, an LST (Learner Support Teacher) at Sullivan Heights. See TEACHERS / Page 9
As of March 8, B.C.’s health ministry will no longer cover the painkiller OxyContin under PharmaCare and new prescriptions for its replacement – OxyNEO – will only be approved in exceptional cases.
Increase of break-ins predicted as province phases out OxyContin in a move to curb prescription drug abuse by Jeff Nagel B.C.’S DECISION to clamp down hard on prescription
EVAN SEAL / THE LEADER
Striking teachers walk outside George Greenaway Elementary on Monday morning.
access to oxycodone-based narcotic painkillers has prompted concern that desperate addicts may turn to other drugs or crime. OxyContin, dubbed “hillbilly heroin” on the street, is being phased out by its maker and replaced with OxyNEO, which contains the same active ingredient but comes in a different pill form that’s harder to crush and then snort or inject. B.C.’s health ministry said Wednesday it will no longer cover OxyContin through PharmaCare as of March 8 and new prescriptions for the replacement OxyNEO will be approved only in exceptional cases through a special authority program. Dr. Caroline Ferris, who works at the 30-bed Creekside
Withdrawal Management Centre in Surrey, said more than one-third of incoming detox patients are addicted to prescription drugs and many of them are on OxyContin. “It’s a big problem,” she said, predicting a rise in armed robberies and other crime as the last of the drug vanishes later this month and its street price skyrockets. “I think there will be a lot of panic,” Ferris said. “We’re probably going to see more break-ins to pharmacy warehouses and other places stockpiling the last of the OxyContins.” Most illicit users will simply switch to heroin, she predicted. Legitimate patients will still have access to either OxyNEO or other opioids, Ferris said, adding she supports the province’s decision to try to curb abuse of the prescription drug.
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