Freshwhyte

This is why I think the black market won't be completely put out of business. Convenience is key.

Stinkypup

I will give you some credit and say that I'm sure you typed that wrongly and you meant to to say "Would you rather prescribe.....? You have absolutely no idea of my prescribing practices and presumption as to how I practice as a doctor is simply guesswork on your part.

Aside from my GP work in the UK, I had extensive training in substance misuse and was one of the three medical officers for the largest residential drug and alcohol centres in Europe. Obviously this covered all the usual suspects, crack, heroin, other opioids crystalmeth ketamine, benzos, the list goes on but also those abusing marijuana and I often encountered drug related psychosis .

I have no huge problem if you want to waste your money on cannabis oil for a bit of a hurtie knee but don't come to me or some other doctor,with pen in hand waving a form to get "snake oil."Me, I would do the more sensible thing and see a physio.

Danny B

Yes it was not directed at you but BC Doctor's in general. There seems to be an opioid crisis in BC right now.

http://www.bcmj.org/presidents-comme...ve-and-support

I know you have strong views on the subject so I won't waste keyboard strokes debating a bottle of oxycontin vs medical marijuana. But you have to admit, that for some people, weed relieves pain. Placebo effect or not.

Freshwhyte

Not only BC but everywhere in Canada and the U.S....that stuff is pure evil, destroys lives and needs to be banned or be met with significantly more control.

dave_j

My issue here is one of personal safety and a recognition that there are many out there who refuse to accept that 'soft' drugs, including alcohol and cannabis, alter the thinking process.

There should be no argument that anyone driving a 2 tonne battering ram on a public highway needs to be able to think clearly in order to process information and make decisions in a rational manner, but daily I see evidence of reckless behaviour.

As I have said before, I've no views on the private use of drugs. If you want to kill yourself then go ahead, that's your privilege, just don't do it behind a steering wheel.

I've never understood the social stand on drink and drug driving. In my view causing death, or any other harm, when driving and knowingly drugged should be treated no differently than other crimes involving other weapons.

Stinkypup

I will keep it brief as I am losing the will to live on this. I absolutely agree with the pair of you- I hate oxycodone and similar being doled out like smarties by doctors, I was shocked when I moved jobs over here. I strictly limit my opioids prescribing and regularly drug test. Diversion is a huge problem. Fentanyl has been around for decades. Drug users are playing russian roulette taking drugs cut with it often a synthetised high concentration version drug which often kills.- some people may say no loss
I have no control if people smoke cigs, do weed, drink 12 bottles of beer per night, eat Timmies do-nutser dayit is likely to do harm over time but it hacks me off that marijuana has put up as a panacea of all cures because people want to medicalise it's use, for a sore toe, a vague sense of unease or relieving an attack of the colly-wobbles. Sorry Danny, that is simply BS.

Stinkypup

dbd33

Specifically as regards alcohol and driving, I don't think it's our place to comment. It's not the done thing in the UK. It is the done thing here. We should accept the cultural difference and not try to impose a foreign view on the local populace. Still, I wish drivers wouldn't fling their empty bottles and cans out of the window, it's a bother collecting them.

Stinkypup

You scamp

dave_j

I live here. I have a right to comment.

I drive my grandchildren to school, they have a right to live.

I have a right to drive along a road without being mangled by a truck driven by an idiot who doesn't know what time of day it is because he's stoned.

The 'cultural defense' carries no more weight in canadian courts of law than in the UK.

This is a serious issue and pandering to popular opinion does you no credit.

caretaker

Re: Prescribed opiates, I wonder how high the percentage of patients getting maintenance doses is who are poly-addicts and take whatever they can get on the black market in addition? If they aren't getting tested and still receiving narcotics, the scrip might not even be half of what they're taking, and they only come to attention when hospitalised.

Stinkypup

Usually it is the other way round- our nan gets her percocets prescribed then our Billy swipes a few and flogs them to his mate Gavin.
One of life's questions-Why is it always the sleeping pills or T3s that are "knocked into the toilet or eaten by the poor unfortunate dog"rather than Thyroxine , or laxatives? It must be a really weird coincidence!

Zoe Bell

I accidentally knocked about 20 cipralex down my bathroom sink once

caretaker

On my block Nan keeps her lock box at someone else's house so the park bears don't get her juice/morphine/oxywhatever. They have ads on tv for Billy and Gavin's nans. One thing I've noticed at work is less evidence of extascy being taken to dances. Factoring in that we have fewer rave type events it's still been a long time and a good sign.

Souvy

My missus was given a prescription for hydromorphane about a decade ago, after fairly major surgery. I saw what the first one did and took the rest away. I kept them in my pocket until I could get them to a pharmacy for destruction.

We had a constant flow of teenagers in our house and they probably knew the street value of those pills. I just got temptation out of the way.