Addiction has many faces. In Vancouver, the most visible of those is on the street.
Historically, it’s been alcoholism that we’ve heard about.
In part three of our mini-series on addiction, we talk about a creeping problem that’s taking the country by storm, and is far better at hiding itself away: Prescription drugs.
Marshall Smith with the Cedars at Cobble Hill recovery centre says behind alcohol abuse, it’s the number two addiction problem we face as a society.
Hiding in plain sight
Smith says part of the problem with the prescription drug epidemic is that we don’t want to see it.
“It starts off with a denial of the problem within the household, not wanting to believe that this is happening. We don’t like to confront the fact that we’re powerless against something, that we can’t get out of a situation.”
Smith says the problem is getting worse because doctors are either improperly prescribing or monitoring opiate painkillers. He says many people are legitimately prescribed these drugs after a surgery or injury, but become dependent.
In some cases, that’s because they’re genetically predisposed to addiction. The problem? We have no way of testing who those people might be.
“We don’t have a litmus test, we don’t have a way to say you can’t use these. The only way we find out is when you become addicted.”
Smith says that’s made worse by the fact doctors aren’t using B.C.’s PharmaNet system, which lets them check a patient’s prescription history.