Tonight on Sunday ` a drug you need to know about. I trusted that what my daughter was being prescribed was safe. A prescription painkiller. It had a total hold on her. The reasons that make it a good painkiller are also the reasons that make it highly addictive. Addictive, expensive and stronger than morphine. She must've hated that so much. Do we even need this drug in NZ? Just a man alone and that gets caught in a storm. Robert Redford ` back in front of the camera. And why he's not stopping any time soon. I think retiring is a little bit of a step towards death. Kia ora. I'm Miriama Kamo. If your doctor told you he was prescribing you morphine, you might be a bit cautious. But what if you were prescribed a drug called oxycodone? It's a painkiller stronger than morphine. Most oxycodone users don't get addicted, but those who do find themselves trapped. So is the good that this painkiller does being outweighed by the bad? Jehan Casinader with this Sunday investigation. I should have seen what was in front of my eyes, and I didn't, and for that, I will never ever forgive myself. So this thing really had a hold on her? It had a huge hold on her. It had a total hold on her. # I brush my teeth. # Ch-ch-ch-ch. # Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. # I brush my teeth. She was bright, very beautiful, very challenging. # Wake up in the morning at quarter to 4. I loved her fiercely, and she loved back. Freya Stephen ` curious, cheeky, a bit of a rebel. Like mother, like daughter, it would seem. We grew up to be the very best of friends. We were almost soulmates, really. We did everything together. She was one of the true loves of my life. For Denise, it was the kind of bond many mums would envy. She had so many plans for her future. She'd started varsity doing an English degree. She wanted to see the world, to get married, to have children. She wanted everything that every young woman has a right to expect, and she was denied all of it. At 17, Freya injured herself on a family holiday. We were walking along the beach. Freya jumped over a little creek, and at that moment the Earth shifted on its axis, and nothing ` nothing ` would ever be the same for us again. Freya had fractured her spine. She was in agony, so her doctor gave her oxycodone, a prescription-only, regulated painkiller sold here under a variety of brand names. I didn't really know what it was. I suppose I trusted ` I trusted that what my daughter was being prescribed was safe. Oxycodone's a strong painkiller, and it's part of the same group of painkillers that come from opium. Psychiatrist Dr Jeremy McMinn knows oxycodone well. It's pretty strong, right? It is very strong. It's about one and a half times as strong as morphine. So why do our doctors prescribe it? So why do our doctors prescribe it? They prescribe it because it's an effective painkiller. It's very convenient to take, comes on very quickly. But there's a catch. It gets rid of your pain but it'll also give you a sense of wellbeing and even a sense of euphoria. So in effect it may well get you high. The reasons that make it a good painkiller are also the reasons that make it highly addictive. You're always looking the next time for the medication to come back on again. The pain from Freya's back injury was unbearable. She took oxycodone in increasing doses for over a year. Then Denise started noticing changes in her daughter. A little bit short-tempered, a little bit edgy, not quite so good with her personal hygiene in terms of her hair, which she loved. Clues that Freya was silently battling an addiction to opiates ` something Denise could never have imagined. Freya abhorred druggies. She would never, never have put herself into that category ever. When Freya's doctor reduced her oxycodone dose, she became increasingly desperate for the drug. They're completely caught in a trap where they need the drug supply and their doctor's becoming increasingly anxious that they shouldn't continue to offer this. That means that that relationship breaks down, and then the person may be faced with trying to find oxycodone or other opioids, like heroine or methadone, from some other source. Freya bought oxycodone from a drug dealer, even injected herself with it. God, she must've hated that. She must have hated that so much. And yet I know now that's what she did. And when she couldn't get oxycodone, she looked for other opiates. < That's how desperate Freya was? < That's how desperate Freya was? That's how desperate. That's how desperate she was, and I didn't see it. Freya even stole from her own mum to feed her habit. When Denise came out of major surgery, she was prescribed methadone for her recovery. One night, Freya couldn't resist. She took the methadone and drank it. It would be her last hit. I said,... 'Up you get sleepyhead,' and I walked into her room. Her little face was blue, and she was very cold and very very dead. And I knew it, and I let out the most primal, primal scream that you could ever imagine. I ran to the phone. I phoned 111. Who did I want? Police, ambulance, everyone, anyone, anyone. I didn't want to go back in there. My girl was gone. That person slumped forward in bed, that wasn't my Freya. I don't know who that was, but it wasn't my girl. The coroner found 19-year-old Freya died of a methadone overdose. Five years on, Denise still believes she would have never taken it if she didn't have an opiate habit which began with oxycodone. The drug had her in its grip, but I still didn't see that. How could I not have seen that? We'll get you through this difficult patch... Every week, Dr McMinn says, oxycodone users like Freya walk through his door ` people with no prior history of drug use. Some of them have even just tried it once or twice and then have come to me asking to keep away from it. These are not people coming from a background of being criminals, but they're forced into this situation because they're addicted to drugs. It has the potential to affect everybody. Anyone has the potential to get addicted. In the past nine years Kiwi doctors have written almost 900,000 prescriptions for oxycodone. It's more expensive than morphine, and it's funded by our government. Denise, you were a nurse. Even you didn't know how pervasive this drug was. No, I didn't. I wish it had been called morphine. I would've known. I would've been on to it. I wasn't, I wasn't. It wasn't until after Freya died that I started looking at this drug, and what I found shocked and disturbed me beyond anything. After the break ` I felt dangerous, yeah, and that was` that was scary. we go inside the black market for oxycodone right here in NZ. Are you worried about it? 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To get your investment statement, go to genesisenenergyshares.govt.nz, Call 0800 90 30 90 or speak to a broker. # They are everywhere. # So how hard is it to wean yourself off oxycodone? Well, back to our story, and just a warning ` there are some images of illicit drug use. Oxycodone, the little pill that kills pain, is turning some of its users into addicts. In America right now, there's a silent epidemic. In the US, you're more likely to die from an oxycodone or other similar drug overdose than you are to die from a road traffic accident. It's that bad. Courtney Love overdosed, Steven Tyler checked into rehab, Michael Jackson was a heavy user, and Heath Ledger had the drug in his system when he died. It's also Kiwis who are struggling with oxy. I took two, and I thought, 'I am really... Wow, like, I'm really off my face. This is very strong.' I remember not feeling comfortable with the feeling but thinking, 'It's from the doctor, it's OK.' Jessie Roughan was prescribed oxycodone for chronic bladder pain. She took it for three years. I was afraid to stop, because I didn't know that I would be able to handle life back where I was in` in that much pain. Oxycodone should only be prescribed for a limited period. And that limited period for most people is gonna only be about two to four weeks. Are our doctors prescribing oxycodone too freely? They're not as aware as they should be of what happens when you've been on products like oxycodone for weeks on end. Your body changes, your brain will start to expect that drug, and it won't really be an effective painkiller any more. When Jessie decided to wean herself off the drug, it proved tougher than she'd ever imagined. My beloved cat walked past me, and I just wanted to wring his neck. I just wanted to break his neck out of the blue. When I was really desperate, I thought, 'If I smash the mirror and cut off my fingers, 'I wouldn't be able to, um, harm anything.' I felt dangerous, yeah, and that was` that was scary. After trying to detox herself for nine months, Jessie entered a clinic. I remember one day I ran a really hot bath. I just was crying, crying, crying, thinking, 'I'm... I'm gonna let everyone down, you know. 'I can't do it.' And I held myself under the water for a while, not entirely sure whether I wanted to come up or not. Mm. There must have been times you thought, 'I'm never gonna make it through this.' Yeah, I didn't know if I wanted to make it. It felt too hard. There's another side to oxycodone addiction, and it's not pretty ` people who've never been prescribed oxycodone by a doctor but got their hands on it just to get high. Josh, as we'll call him, is a recreational oxycodone user. His supply has run out, and he hasn't had the drug for three days. He's experiencing withdrawal symptoms. You feel dreadful. You feel like you're dying if you don't use it. So people chase it. They're regularly putting themselves into risky situations in order to get the money, the funds for drug using. Josh gets oxycodone from friends or people who've been prescribed too much. Someone will got to a number of different doctors in order to get a prescription either for resale or for abuse purposes. Whether it's recreational users who want to get high or ordinary Kiwis who've become addicted through the medical system, there's no denying that oxycodone is costing the rest of us. It's cost taxpayers $30 million in the past decade. The benefits of having access to a potent alternative painkiller to morphine uh, outweigh the risks of addiction. And that's not just my opinion. Dr Stewart Jessamine of Medsafe stands by oxycodone. It's made to high quality, it's got an acceptable safety profile, and it's effective as a treatment for moderate to severe pain. and it's effective as a treatment for moderate to severe pain. It's also highly addictive. As are all opiates. A percentage of patients who are exposed and prescribed opiates can become addicted to them. Are you worried about it? I think there's increasing concern about the rates of addiction to oxycodone in NZ. And there are things that have been done to try and address that. Advice on how to use oxycodone appropriately and` and how to wean patients off oxycodone has been published and released to the GPs every year for the last three years. Currently, people misusing or selling oxycodone are put on a Ministry of Health watch list that's sent to pharmacies and doctors every six months. That monitoring process needs to be stepped up, says Dr Jeremy McMinn. This is a paper process. What we're really missing is an electronic prescribing process ` an oversight of what prescriptions are being generated, what people are regularly getting ` and it would pick out the people who are getting into trouble. We have a system that is identifying addicts. It is identifying and restricting people to certain prescribers. Every system that you create, there will be ways round about it. Jessie finally managed to escape her addiction to oxycodone By then I'd lost my job, um, and it went on to really affect my relationship, and I lost my` my fiance and my stepchild in the process. So I` I paid a really high price to get off that medication. I lost everything. I had to start again. So why are you still here today? I really wanted a child. I wanted to be a good mum that didn't have this drug running through my body which I knew was so bad. What's his name? What's his name? Goldie. Goldie. Goldie. He's a Care Bear. Oh God, his arms have fallen off at some point. You've got some special news? You've got some special news? I do, yeah. I'm expecting a child. You got off oxycodone so you could have that baby. You got off oxycodone so you could have that baby. I did, yeah. Now she's looking to her future ` the kind of future that Freya Stephen missed out on. We've got a broken family. Our lives have been destroyed. But worst of all, Freya's life has gone. The life that she wanted and cherished and valued so much has been taken from her. Oh! You remember this? Oh! You remember this? I do. All Denise has now are memories of her daughter. I can still smell her. A necklace, a shock of purple hair, a tattoo. Funny little things that we do. Funny little things, but... I guess they will help bring her along with me and make her never, ever forgotten, not till the day I die. Sunday has heard from two of the three drug companies supplying oxycodone here. They acknowledge prescription medicines can be abused but say oxycodone is one of the most controlled drugs, restricting, they say, abuse, misuse and the diversion of prescription drugs into the illicit market. The NZ Medical Association says, 'GPs are aware of the addictive nature of oxycodone, 'and there is a considerable amount of information provided to doctors 'on how and when it should be prescribed.' Up next ` Robert Redford on taking the hard knocks as an actor. In the movie, you bruise, batter, drown that face. I did that because that's what it called for. I never was somebody that was aware of my looks until it was bought to my attention. TV PLAYS SOFTLY TV PLAYS SOFTLY I'm off. TV PLAYS SOFTLY I'm off. Hey. It's raining outside. DEEP VOICE: Watch your following distances. Back by 10, eh? Yep. DEEP VOICE: Eyes on your side of the road, Tom. I can't believe you did this. I'm going out. No, love, you can't. You're too upset. DEEP VOICE: You can't drive like this. Calm down. Take 30. Or I'll drop you in. Fine. TYRES SQUEAL TYRES SQUEAL DEEP VOICE: Keep going straight. It's either us or the possum. OK. I'll see you Sunday. I'll see you Sunday. DEEP VOICE: 'Carl. > 'Take the route that we planned. It's a long trip, so take some breaks. 'Drive safe, chicken pie.' Thanks, Mum. Welcome back. Robert Redford is... well, he's a legend. He's acted in some of the greatest films of all time, directed some of the best movies ever, and now he's just played his loneliest and most difficult role. There's no dialogue and just one actor ` himself. Ross Coulthart sits down with Robert Redford. What's your name? Johnson. How do you do, old sport? I'm Gatsby. I'm the new warden here. My name is Brubaker. I'm Bob Woodward, Washington Post. I'm Roy Hobbs, your new right fielder. CHEERING Redford is a man of many parts. And the sum of those parts is a brilliant career. You would think he would have nothing left to prove. GUNSHOTS, SHOUTING We'll set up these mics and then be ready to go. But we are here to talk about his latest unique performance ` stunningly solo in the shipwreck film All Is Lost. So, Robert Redford, congratulations on All Is Lost. It's a cracking good film. (CHUCKLES) I like that word. (CHUCKLES) In this movie, Robert Redford is the lone actor playing a lone sailor on a doomed yacht. One of the things I liked about it was there was no dialogue, there was no voiceover, no other actors ` just a man alone and that gets caught in a storm ` and that simplicity, the fact that there was no dialogue, there were no filters or barriers between you and the audience. So you were basically giving the audience a chance to come fully into you, if they would. One of the unkind criticisms over the years ` and I do think it was unkind ` is that Robert Redford never had to act, that he was always himself. I think the films would speak for themselves. If you really look carefully at the films, you see I'm playing a character. You can't do Jeremiah Johnson and then within a month do The Candidate and then do The Way We Were and then do Gatsby and then do... Butch Cassidy, Three Days of the Condor. They're all different characters. You can't say they're not acting. I don't think anybody can watch All Is Lost and not say, 'By crikey, this guy can act.' This is extreme. I'm alone. I'm being thrown this way. I'm being knocked this way and that way. In the movie, you bruise, batter, bleed, bash, drown that face more than just about any other leading actor I've ever seen. Yeah, I did that because that's what it called for. I don't... There's not` I don't see anything precious about me at all, and, uh, I never was somebody that was aware of my looks until it was brought to my attention. All a man can say is, 'Here I am,' and that's what I say to you tonight. Here I am. I'm willing to give it all I've got. Let's make a beginning! You've made a living out of being the all-American guy who's struggling against often implacable foes and forces. > You've taken on the CIA a couple of times in The Company You Keep and Spy Game. We just need you to be a team player on this one, Muir. Why is that funny? Why is that funny? Every time my coach told me that, I knew I was about to get benched. What do you look for in a role? I think the tension of a character fighting against overwhelming odds, whether it's an injustice... Hey, hey! Hold it right there, hold it. Hold it right there, hold it. I'm sorry, I'm replacing you. ...or whether it's powers that are beyond his control,... Listen, you son of a bitch. I'm telling you, I came back with lunch, and it was raining, and the whole house was murdered. Everybody is dead. ...anything that threatens his ability to be an individual, and all those films had that. I'll jump first. I'll jump first. No. Then you jump first. Then you jump first. No, I said. What's the matter with you?! What's the matter with you?! I can't swim. (LAUGHS) One of the things that I think we all responded to in your films was the buddy relationship you had with Paul Newman. > Why, you crazy? The fall will probably kill you. You did Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, you did The Sting with Paul. > Glad to meet you, kid. You're a real horse's ass. Luther said I could learn something from you. I already know how to drink. Why was there never another one? Why was there never another one? There was gonna be, uh, but he died. The film that I'm gonna do this spring was meant to be with Paul. The film that I'm gonna do this spring was meant to be with Paul. This is A Walk in the Woods? > And what's that going to be about? And what's that going to be about? Two characters that are older who want to do something special in their lives, something difficult, and they want to hike the Appalachian Trail, which runs 2000 miles. Whoa-oa-oa-oa-oa-oa, oh shit! Robert Redford has been in acting for 54 years, directing since 1980. His work is his life, and what a busy life it still is. Is there a time in your career where you think you'll say, 'Oh, bugger this. I'm stopping.' No. I see no reason in retiring. I think retiring... is a little bit of a step towards death, and I think as long as you can continue, you should. That's how I feel. As long as you can go forward, you should, because you never know what's around the next corner. You never know what you might learn. Would've loved to have seen him back together with Newman. However... All Is Lost is playing in some cinemas now.