Will new guidelines restrict drug access for patients with chronic pain?

During our Cross Country Checkup discussion on whether drugs should be decriminalized across Canada, some feared that government changes would affect how people living with chronic pain would have access to drugs.

Lori, who called from Calgary, lives with chronic pain. She believes that drugs should be decriminalized, because she's heard too many stories of people succumbing to their addictions and turning to the streets for opioids just to treat pain. Because of this, she's terrified for her future and feels she doesn't know where to turn. She asks governments to relax regulations on drugs and not to restrict them.

Cross Country Checkup4:21October 2, 2016 - Lori from Calgary

Lori from Calgary has chronic pain. She is facing a choice between suicide or looking for drugs on the street to help with her health.

Duncan McCue: Should hard drugs such as heroin be decriminalized, Lori?

Lori: Yes, I believe they should. And, I think I'm about to be one of the casualties of the war on drugs.

I'm a chronic pain patient, and I've been on opioids by prescription now for 10 years. They've allowed me to return to a level of functioning where I can take care of my elderly mother.

I'm in my'60's. I can have a bit of a life, and I couldn't have one before. My doctor and I tried everything to control my pain, and it wasn't until I got to the morphine that it worked.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons in Alberta, and I think colleges in many other provinces, are putting together a guideline based on the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines to severely limit the amount of morphine available for chronic pain patients. What this means for me is a return to levels of pain such that I cannot function. It means I may go out to the street and I seek heroin, or I avoid that shame by just committing suicide because I'm not willing to live with that level of pain any more.

DM: You said that you're concerned about the shame. Why?

Lori: I don't want to have to lose my house, sell all of my belongings, turn to crime or whatever it would take for me to get enough drugs to be at a level where I can function to kill my pain. It's very expensive to buy street drugs.

DM: We are talking about harm reduction techniques such as safe injection sites. Do you think that those are the way to go?

Lori: Yes, because then people have a choice. I do think that providing heroin is actually a good idea as long as there's treatment available too. Treatment has to be available because what we want to do is give people choices in their lives. We want them to be as healthy as they can be, and I don't know that being addicted to heroin is healthy if you're not treating pain - whether it's emotional pain or physical pain. But if you're not treating pain and you don't want to be addicted, then getting the help is really important.

Lori's and Duncan McCue's comments have been edited and condensed. This online segment was prepared by Samantha Lui.