Already an experienced drug user after experimenting with everything he could get his hands on, he knew the prescription painkiller — often called hillbilly heroin — was extremely addictive.

But the high was so enjoyable, so seductive, that Sutherland didn’t care.

“I liked being able to feel no pain,� he said. “It just took me to a happier spot, you know what I mean?�

Eight years later, at 25, Sutherland is now in a different place altogether.

An addiction to OxyContin and alcohol has cost him his girlfriend, his family, his job and his health.

Sutherland lives in a Cambridge homeless shelter — clean for just over two weeks and struggling to stay that way while waiting to get into a residential treatment program next month.

“It’s bone-achingly painful,� he said of the withdrawal in his first five to six days off the drug. “It’s just so easy to start again because you know if you get a pill it’s fixed — until you need the next one.�

Sutherland is one of a growing number of local people learning how deep OxyContin — the most popular form of the drug oxycodone — sets its hooks in users.

Although police say it still lags behind crack cocaine and powdered cocaine as a problem in Waterloo Region, misuse of the powerful narcotic is both common and increasing.

“There is a misconception that using a prescription tablet is safer that using an illicit substance such as cocaine,� said Det. Const. Ross Swainson. “People don’t understand that abuse can be just as lethal.�

Sutherland hit bottom when he recently woke up in a jail cell in the middle of the night with no idea how he got there.

He turned for help to staff at Simcoe House, an agency affiliated with the shelter where he was staying.

“Literally, the way I drink and use drugs, I’m going to die if I don’t stop,� Sutherland said. “I’d like to have a life and get my family back.�

Don Johnson, his support worker, said he sees a steady stream of clients hooked on OxyContin — especially in the 19-to-25 age group.

He said many of them first try it in late high school and show up at his office once it’s progressed to full-blown addiction.

“It’s pretty scary out there,� Johnson said. “It’s everywhere.�

Alarmed by the prevalence and repercussions of OxyContin, he applauds a recent proposal by the provincial government to track prescriptions.

The idea is to flag people going to multiple doctors, doctors handing out too many prescriptions and pharmacies filling too many orders, all ways the painkiller makes its way onto the street.

A similar monitoring system is already in place for the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan, which pays for prescription drugs for seniors, welfare recipients and the disabled.

To combat the problem, six other provinces and 33 American states previously implemented monitoring programs for private prescriptions.

“It should have happened years ago,� Johnson said of the Ontario plan, which is expected to be in place by spring at a cost of about $1 million. “Our province is way behind.�

Ontario has the highest rate of narcotics use in Canada and the number of oxycodone-related deaths in the province — more than those attributed to HIV — has almost doubled since 2004.

Michael Parkinson, a co-ordinator for the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, said almost two people a day seek help here after overdosing on opiates, with an estimated 28 deaths a year locally.

Studies also suggest high school students in the region use prescription painkillers such as OxyContin at a rate above the provincial average.

“In the main, it’s a great idea — long overdue,� Parkinson said of the proposed tracking system. “It ought to help the province pinpoint problem prescribers.�

Sutherland said he almost immediately got hooked when he was prescribed OxyContin — a slow-release form of oxycodone that is crushed by abusers to get a huge hit of the drug at once — after dislocating his shoulder in a car accident.

When his prescription ran out after a month, he easily found it on the local black market. He functioned fine at first, feeling upbeat and energetic.

“But after a while the addiction gets bad,� Sutherland said. “Then you can’t get out of bed without taking something.�

At his worst, he was spending hundreds of dollars a day on OxyContin. When he didn’t have any, all he could think about was getting more money to buy it.

“It’s just total frustration and anxiety, to the point where you’ll drive yourself nuts,� Sutherland said.

“Then once you do it, it’s like this warm release. You feel comforted and it, like, caresses you and f------ destroys your life.�

bcaldwell@therecord.com

If you or someone you know is struggling with an addiction, there is help and there is hope.

Please go to the Angels D & A Referral Centre  and call your nearest help line

or contact any of the Angels Treatment & Aftercare Team. 

“We are always ready to help!�