Mom buys street drugs to aid daughter awaiting methadone
A Victoria mother said she was desperate when she took her daughter to buy “street” methadone after being told it would take two weeks to a month to get a proper prescription.
“To our dismay, we have an addicted daughter asking for help and we are forced to buy some street drugs like a common criminal to keep her going until we can get her some help,” said Correne Antrobus in a letter to the Times Colonist. “We have been waiting for this opportunity to help our daughter before she overdoses and the window is very slight when an addict is asking for help.”
The Antrobus family is likely not alone. There are a limited number of doctors in the province who prescribe methadone and it is unclear how many there are in Victoria.
Methadone is a controlled substance and requires federal authorization through the B.C. College of Physicians by application and after training.
Dr. Ailve McNestry, deputy registrar responsible for drug programs at the College, said there are about 200 to 300 doctors with the authorization.
Despite an overdose crisis in the province, “unfortunately, I don’t think we’ve had an increase,” McNestry said. At least 914 British Columbians died in 2016 from overdoses, the worst year on record.
McNestry said the college is trying to encourage more doctors to get training for addictions medicine.
“Outside the Lower Mainland, there is a shortage of physicians who focus on addictions medicine,” she said.
There are two addiction specialty clinics in Victoria that offer methadone and suboxone programs, the two main drugs to treat opioid-addicted patients. The Pandora Clinic has nine part-time doctors who see about 800 to 850 patients. After new patients go through a urine test, questionnaire and lab results they are added to the waitlist to see a doctor for a methadone or suboxone prescription. The other, Outreach Services Clinic on Gorge Road, is open for limited hours three days a week.
Both drugs reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms from illicit opioids. Suboxone is more accessible since it does not require an exemption to prescribe and it comes in a pill form, rather than liquid, that doesn’t require frequent visits to the pharmacy. But it does not work for everyone.
McNestry said the current crisis was 20 years in the making, a result of overprescribing opioids, as well as sedatives and stimulants. The College started a prescription review and education program, “to hopefully prevent another wave,” McNestry said.
The provincial government has announced the B.C. Centre for Substance Use will develop new guidelines for treating opioid addictions; they are to be released in June.
Future plans for better treatment options are not much consolation to the Antrobus family, who are hoping their eldest daughter can get help and get on with her life.
“I know it’s not the government’s fault if your child is an addict. But there is not a lot of help out there,” Correne said. “We just want a prescription. My hope is that she can get in a methadone program and start a normal life again.”