Access to Pain Medication as a Known Drug User

As a known drug user I am terrified of the day I find myself in crisis resulting from pain. Hospitals automatically and notoriously treat those on Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) and other people known to them as drug users as “drug seekers”.

Staff don't care whether or not you have presented with a condition normally warranting pain medication and treatment. You will almost certainly be made to wait while arguments against your treatment are considered at length, or you may be provided with alternative measures which are at best ineffective, or the most likely outcome, you will be turned away, and refused medication period.

In fact despite what some medical professionals may prefer to claim, there is a culture of “addiction paranoia” within practitioner circles. Even if you have zero history of illicit drug use, you may be refused pain medications or not provided with a high enough dose or for a long enough time. All because doctors fear the possibility of addiction. When you are a known illicit drug user it is that much worse. You are seen as already addicted simply because you use so called street drugs. Whether its true or not doctors somehow feel they would be contributing to your addiction, even providing you with a reward if they prescribe to you. That you have legitimate need for the medication or treatment is irrelevant to them.

Watch for upcoming articles on this topic. I am going to provide some information, tips, and advice about how best to advocate for yourself when you are in need of pain medications whether on the street or in jail.

It is a human right to be provided with adequate, effective, and speedy access to pain relief of all kinds, including access to narcotic pain medications.

International Advocacy Initiatives: Access to Pain Meds

Stop Torture in Healthcare

This web site talks about the practice of refusing patients pain medication world wide, especially where it relates to stigma. They also deal with issues of forced sterilization and forced drug treatment. There is an interactive map allowing you a glimpse into practices by continent. http://www.stoptortureinhealthcare.org/news-and-resources/access-pain-treatment-human-right

 

SOROS is one of the leading international agencies dealing with denial of pain medications for all kinds of reasons including unfair pricing and policy for so called 3r world countries, and refusal for reasons related to discrimination. Check out some of their work here: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/health/about

In Canada

Activists in Canada such as the Canadian Pain Society (www.canadianpainsociety.ca) and the Canadian

Pain Coalition (www.canadianpaincoalition.ca) are calling for a National Pain Strategy on access to effective pain management for all. Doctors have become afraid of criminal charges for prescribing pain medications. Effectively the courts, police, and the government have placed themselves at the doors to access. None are qualified to be in the position to either grant or deny access to pain medications. In fact doctors and other medical prescribers should themselves not be the only doorway to access either. Adult people in particular should have access to all of earths natural substances however and whenever we please. How dare governments force their own strictly moral beliefs onto anyone in a “free” and “democratic” society.

Read about what is needed in a national pain strategy here:

http://www.canadianpainsummit2012.ca/media/11445/final%20nat%20pain%20strategy%20for%20can%20121511%20eng.pdf

 

Core Values Of National Call Out for a Pain Strategy

• Access to the treatment of pain without discrimination is a fundamental human right

• The treatment of pain requires an inter-professional approach to care

• The treatment of pain must be patient and family centered

• Pain is a continuum (from acute to chronic and from birth to death)

Endorse the strategy demanding the federal government implement a National Pain Strategy here:

http://www.canadianpainsummit2012.ca/en/home.aspx

 

To Learn More attend one of the upcoming Canadian pain conferences in 2012.

1. Rise Up Against Pain. Ottawa, On April 24, 2012 See the call for submissions too!

 

2. Pain Hurts Everyone, Searching for Solutions – Whistler, BC - May 23-26, 2012