PRESCRIPTION DRUG ADDICTION AN 'EPIDEMIC'

Psychiatrist Says Docs Pressured To Medicate Patients

Prescription drugs are suspected in the death of singer Michael
Jackson. If the toxicology report from the autopsy confirms this, he
joins a growing number of people falling victim to prescription-drug
abuse.

Public perception is that illegal street drugs are a bigger problem
than prescription-drug misuse, but that's not the reality, says
Calgary psychiatrist Dr. Ronald Lim. So many people abuse and are
addicted to the drugs found in their medicine cabinets, that he calls
it "an epidemic."

The most commonly abused prescription drugs are opioids
(pain-relievers) and benzodiazepines, used to treat such things as
anxiety, panic attacks, depression, insomnia and stress, because they
affect the mind, behaviour or mood.

In 2002, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse found Canadians were
among the heaviest consumers of such medications--the fourth highest
per-capita use--in the world.

"Part of the problem is that North Americans expect that there's a
magic pill for everything, and they put pressure on physicians to give
it to them," says Lim, medical consultant for Alberta Health Services'
opiate-dependency program.

Prescription drug problems often start in hospitals.

Auto mechanic Patrick Lance, 39, developed his addiction in one, 11
years ago, after falling off a hoist at work and breaking his back. It
took several surgeries to remove three crushed discs and fuse his
spine. Lance, who was living in Calgary then, spent eight months in
hospital, where he became dependent on morphine.

"I had a concern when they started giving me morphine, but the doctor
said, 'Don't worry, it won't make an addict out of you,' " Lance recalls.

While waiting one day to see his surgeon, Lance met a man who told him
about a guy on the street, a former paramedic, could sell him morphine.

Within two years, he went from an employed and married father of two
young kids, to an addict panhandling on the street after his wife
found needles in his jacket pocket and threw him out of the house.

"She said,'I don't want a druggie living here,' instead of helping
me."

Desperate, Lance turned to Dr. Mat Rose, who works with addicts at the
inner-city Boyle McCauley Health in Edmonton.

Seven years later, Lance is a recovering addict, living on disability
assistance, in a group home. He's estranged from his kids.

For now, "I'm trying hard to keep my head above water. I'm lucky to be
alive."