With Oxycontin supplies dwindling, thieves in Ottawa are getting increasingly desperate to get some before it's fully replaced on pharmacy shelves.

Canada started phasing out the prescription painkiller in March in favour of OxyNeo, a new drug that's harder to abuse.

Now, Ottawa police say we're already about to pass the number of pharmacy robberies in all of 2011 in the first four-and-a-half months of 2012.

"This year to date this year we're at 38 pharmacy robberies, which is only two shy of all of our pharmacy robberies for 2011," said Sgt. Michael Haarbosch of the Ottawa police's robbery unit.

"Ultimately it's a demand on the street for some of the drugs that are so high in demand."

One Oxycontin pill that used to cost $20 is now selling on the street for four to five times that amount, meaning people are more likely to rob pharmacies to get some.

Police said they've arrested one man suspected of robbing 12 pharmacies, with another group of former bank robbers switching to getting Oxycontin because the risk is smaller and the payoff is bigger.

"The price has gone up, it's like supply and demand of any commodity," said pharmacy owner Mark Barnes, whose store was robbed this winter. "It was a matter of time for us. We knew it because of the increased incidents."

Helen Grey was at work when one of those robberies happened.

"He came around the corner with a knife in his hand and a bag in his other hand," she said. "He demanded that we give him the narcotics."

Police hoping numbers will naturally dwindle

Ottawa police say they've boosted their presence to deal with the increased amount of robberies and are hoping Oxycontin will be off the shelves soon.

"We're kind of waiting to see what the impact is going to be," said Haarbosch. "We're hopeful our numbers will tail off but we're kind of in a holding pattern."

However, word on the streets is that dealers are finding ways to work with OxyNeo, which isn't doing much to calm pharmacy workers.

"Where there's a will there's a way. They're going to find a way to misuse the new formulation," Barnes said

"I don't even think they should have these medications in a pharmacy," Grey said.

"It certainly makes me worried everyday, being in this sort of environment."

With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua