I am a mother, retired secondary school teacher (Toronto District School Board), and advocate for prescription opioid drug reform. In June 2004, I lost my only child, Michael, 29 years of age to a prescription opioid. This personal tragedy would prompt extensive soul-searching, reading, researching and learning. What I have discovered is an ongoing broader tragedy of prescription addiction, overdoses and deaths. It is in the spirit of prevention and hope for change through education and awareness with which I wish to communicate a message to all families.
Most parents caution their children against illicit drugs and seldom about legally prescribed drugs. The reason is we believe that legal drugs are safe. After all, they are approved by Health Canada, prescribed by doctors, and dispensed by pharmacists. In addition, we have become a society that believes we need to take a pill to resolve every minor ailment. We do our best to raise our families, and more often than not, we rely on the experts. The reality is that benzodiazepines and opioids (painkillers) are dangerous and highly addictive. However, this reality is seldom communicated to us. Myths, stigma and bias help perpetuate the idea that addiction is only about will power and that opioid overdoses only happen if you abuse opioids. At last, the medical community has conducted studies that confirm what I have believed all along...you can die from an overdose even if you take prescription drugs as prescribed.
The truth is that addiction is a health issue, not a moral issue. It is tragic that the majority of people addicted to prescribed drugs were legally given these drugs by their doctors. It is time to address the root of the problem -- deceptive marketing practises. We have an unregulated opioid industry and an overburdened health care system. Together they have created the disease of addiction without any compassionate treatment programs for those addicted. Many medical research studies outline the dangers of opioids and substantiate my claims. I encourage you to do your own research (see references) to gain insight into this epidemic and then demand our federal and provincial governments take action to protect the public against dangerous "legal" as well as illicit drugs.
Check out:
*http://www.banoxycontin.com to see the destruction opioids have caused
* Watch Global News 16x9 The Bigger Picture, "Dying of Pain", March 21, 2010 @ 6:30 p.m.
* Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), December 8, 2009, "Prescribing of Opioid Analgesics and Related Mortality before and after the Introduction of long-acting Oxycodone" Dr. Irfan Dhalla et al
* Annals of Internal Medicine, January 19, 2010, "Opioid Prescriptions for Chronic Pain and Overdose"
* Death by Prescription, (Book) by Terence H. Young, MP and founder of Drug Safety Canada
Ada Giudice-Tompson
Ontario, Canada
