Calgary Herald Calls Weak Doctors the New Culprit for Drug Addictions

In a recent edtorial, the Calgary Herald took a cue from Dr. Douglas Grant, the CEO and registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, in remarks he made to the annual general council meeting of the Canadian Medical Association.

In sum, Dr. Grant blamed "weak" and ill-informed doctors for caving to patient demands for opioid prescriptions and thus contributing to the drug addiction problem Calgary and Canada are facing.

The editorial continues with some zeal to excoriate doctors who might be responsible for contributing to addictions and for "losing control" over the doctor-patient relationship. Revealingly, neither Dr. Grant nor the Herald mentions the medical root of drug addiction problems, which research has shown often have a genetic basis and which are perpetuated by real changes in the brain and the body.

The real cure for drug addictions won't be found in blaming doctors for over-prescribing any more than it will be found in locking up people for the "crime" of drug possession and use. It will be found in the treatment of drug addiction as a medical and social problem, treating those with addiction problems not as criminally negligent or weak and out of control, but as people suffering from a condition that requires supportive assistance.

This article makes our society seem one step closer to locking up anyone who's even remotely involved with drug abuse, and that's the wrong direction to be headed.