Monday's announcement by federal health minister Leona Aglukkaq that she will not interfere with the approval of generic OxyContin is just the latest development in what has become a major public health crisis. When the legal and regulatory framework results in a situation in which more than a dozen Canadians die each week because of an accidental prescription drug overdose, that framework needs to be changed.

Many people who abused the painkiller OxyContin by inhaling or injecting it switched to heroin after the prescription's formula changed, U.S. research...

Former addicts and front-line addiction workers say the plan to stop manufacturing the opiate OxyContin could lead to new problems, as us...