DON'T BLAME VICTIMS

I have been following the OxyContin saga. Recently, a story told how
the drug had ruined one woman's life. This unfortunate and regrettable
situation is not always the case. Not each person will respond with
the intensity, the mood swings, the floating-through-the-air quality
she described. Some people only notice that their pain is reduced and
experience no difficulty. Very few respond in the way this woman described.

Chronic-pain people experience severe pain 24 hours a day, seven days
a week, 52 weeks of the year, and they need drugs such as OxyContin.
Their pain never goes away. Such people need the long-acting opioids
to have any quality of life. Without them, their days are spent either
in bed or lying on a couch. Suicide is not uncommon. When these drugs
are stolen and end up on the streets, there is death and terrible
illness as a result of misuse.

Saying "people shouldn't have these terrible drugs in their homes, for
people to steal" is unfair and shows a misunderstanding of the
situation. People with chronic pain are not the culprits. They are the
victims, just as surely as the pedestrian who is struck in the
crosswalk by a speeding car. The car is not the problem; it is the
person driving it. Please don't turn your back on people suffering
with chronic pain and blame them for the problems caused by those who
steal and misuse these drugs.

Helen Tupper, president,

North American Chronic Pain Association of Canada