Doctors can play huge role in tackling addiction

When I wrote last month about a study into the need for a separate addictions court in this province, I anticipated that there would be some online response that was less than supportive. After all, with the spike in crime surrounding this issue, I can understand that some people would be less than sympathetic toward those who commit crime to feed an addiction.

What I can’t understand are responses that can be summed up as “lock them up and throw away the key” or “give them all the drugs they need until they kill themselves.” Such “solutions” will do nothing to address this problem and reflect a lack of compassion for the people caught up in addiction — and an even bigger lack of understanding around the underlying reasons why some people fall into this pattern of behaviour. Drug courts may become part of the answer but there are many other critical components of an effective response to this problem.

A study released last month may point to another component of a community response to addiction. The study by the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS calls for more doctors across the country to be trained to diagnose and treat drug-addicted patients. It recognizes that, for many people, addiction is a chronic disease that needs to be treated with evidencebased medicine in the same way other chronic illnesses are treated. The study recommends an investment in addictions training in medical schools, along with a continuing medical education for those medical professionals providing care to these patients.

I think this idea has merit, especially in this province. For many people struggling with addiction, their family doctor may be the first health professional to whom they disclose their problem, and extra training in this area would allow doctors to screen and respond to this health concern. Such training would be especially important in rural areas, where there is a lack of services around addiction or, if they exist, they are overwhelmed with heavy caseloads and long waitlists. There is also a critical need for family doctors to play an active role once someone has completed a treatment program and returns to their home community to help them maintain their sobriety.

There is another critical role for family doctors to play around this issue and it is in the area of prevention. Over the years I have worked in this field, I have noted a huge increase in people addicted to prescription medication. Medications used to treat valid illnesses — including narcotic pain medication, Ritalin and anxiety medication — have a definite value on the streets of our communities for active addicts. While some are coming from the black market, a large percentage of these medications are being prescribed by our doctors, and their patients are either abusing them or selling their medications on the street. I have learned from recovering addicts that those on the street know which doctors they can go to and what they need to say in order to get a prescription.

This is not meant as a criticism of our doctors or to blame them for feeding into this problem. If anything, it provides validation that there is a need for additional training around addiction so that they can be given tools to be more effective in being instrumental in the “cure” for this problem. Ultimately, as with all health issues, the primary responsibility lies with the patient — or, in this case, addict — to be motivated to change their behavior and thus improve their health. The first contact for most of us around health issues is our family doctor and it makes sense that they receive more training around addiction, as they will have to face this health problem in some of their patients.

We can’t stick our heads in the ground to make this go away; addiction is a social, criminal, health, educational, work and community issue and it will take responses from all areas of our society to work toward a solution.

“There is another critical role for family doctors to play around this issue and it is in the area of prevention.”

Brian Hodder is an LGBTQ activist and works in the field of mental health and addictions. He can be reached at bdhodder@hotmail.com.