First Nations are opposing a decision that allows a generic version of OxyContin despite their concerns about prescription drug abuse.

The patent on OxyContin, a powerful painkiller, expires December 28. Canada's Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who is Inuit, said she won't prevent manufacturers from making a generic form of the drug.

As part of the process, Aglukkaq said she will impose rules that require more reporting about the generic drug. But Native leaders said that wasn't enough to address rising rates of substance abuse.

"With OxyContin clones on the market, it just means more drugs flow to the north,” Alvin Fiddler, the deputy grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in Ontario, told the Associated Press.

OxyContin is based on oxycodone, a narcotic with effects similar to morphine, heroin and codeine.

Get the Story:
Canadian government approves OxyContin generic, provoking outcry from tribes and provinces (AP 11/19)
Minister won't interfere with generic OxyContin approval (CBC 11/19)