This 2012 special report from Global News investigates "Canada's biggest pharmaceutical coverup" - the overprescribing of medications containing Oxycodone (e.g., Percocet, Oxycontin, Hydromorphone). Trusting their doctors, many Canadians were given these drugs as an alternative to morphine to help with pain management and were told that it is "far less addictive". However, addiction soon set in and their tolerance began to increase, leading them to need more to have the same effect.
The use of opioids as pain relief has deep roots in New York City, dating back to the 1880s when doctors began prescribing morphine pills to housewives as an unregulated treatment. Journalist Christopher Booker explores New York’s opioid drug history…
