Some members of Congress want Canada to require makers of the painkiller oxycodone to use the same kind used in the United States, which is more difficult to use illegally.
Rep. Brian Higgins says some of the Canadian oxycodone is leaking across the border into the United States to be used by abusers.
The Food and Drug Administration requires makers to immediately provide a form of the painkiller which is hard to crush and dissolve in water to be injected. Canada gave makers three years to comply.
Higgins and other members of Congress wrote Health Minister Rona Ambrose asking her to require the safer form of oxycodone.
"In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration issued a ruling that only abuse-deterrent, meaning it could not be crushed or to be injected or snorted, oxycodone could be sold in the United States. Canada did not issue a similar ruling until 2015 and basically gave pharmaceutical companies three years to comply," Higgins said.
Higgins says abuse of the drug is a problem on both sides of the border and the new formulation is supposed to help in the battle against opioid painkillers. There has been no response from Health Canada.
