The New Brunswick government has committed to rolling out its prescription monitoring program by the end of the year. It will allow doctors and pharmacists to get a much more accurate picture of the prescribing of specific drugs, many of which are being abused and sold on the street.
All sides seem to agree it’s a positive move, but not a cure to the drug abuse problem.
Ashley Petry of Saint John will turn 28 in a couple of weeks. She says she’s an ex-addict who knows all too well how prescription narcotics make their way to the street.
“I know quite a few people that go to a doctor and then go to another doctor and get two different prescriptions,for, let’s say, Dilaudid and they go to different pharmacies to get them filled,” Petry said.
That’s one of the main drivers behind the prescription monitoring program. The New Brunswick Pharmacists Association has been pushing for this for more than a decade.
“We certainly believe the impact will be that there will be more appropriate prescribing and dispensing of specially monitored drugs, for sure narcotics,” said the association’s executive director Paul Blanchard.
Dr. Caroline Brunelle specializes in addiction and mental health at UNB Saint John. She says those at risk will benefit the most.
“The prescription drug monitoring program will allow pharmacists to be able to detect who might be engaging in certain behaviours that seem to perhaps indicate that there is an issue that could lead to substance use,” Brunelle said.
All sides seem to agree addiction service programs are vital with this. At AIDS Saint John, Executive Director Julie Dingwell says services must be in place when opiates on the street run dry.
“There has to be immediate access to treatment programs if we expect that people are going to do without an opiate which they’re addicted to,” Dingwell said.
Petry, who has been clean for two months and counting, says it took a different focus to get her life back on track.
“I have a five-year-old son that I need to be there for and with,” she said. “I contracted Hepatitis C from doing the drugs and I regret it every day of my life.”
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