Pubdate: Sun, 28 Aug 2016
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Dr. W. Gifford-Jones
Page: C4

CANCER PATIENTS SUFFER TO PROTECT ADDICTS' LIVES

How history repeats itself. Today, politicians are once again ignoring
the pain of terminal cancer patients. At the same time, they are
shooting themselves in the foot by making illogical remarks about
pain. This human folly takes me back 37 years.

In January 1979, I wrote a New Year's resolution in this column to
petition the government to legalize medical heroin to ease the agony
of terminal cancer patients. I knew that heroin had been used in
English hospitals for 90 years, so why not have this painkiller
available in North America? But rather than being applauded for my
compassion, all hell broke loose.

One well-known cancer specialist labelled me "a misinformed
headline-seeking journalist." The Cancer Society argued that morphine
was as good as heroin "in most cases." It provided no alternative if
you were not one of the "most cases."

Besides, it's a physiological fact that heroin is more potent than
morphine. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Journal of
Hospital Pharmacy worried about security. And doctors who damned the
use of heroin had to admit they had never used it. So much for
scientific curiosity.

The volume of negativity around heroin was so intense I decided to
visit England and Scotland to get a first-hand look at how heroin was
used in these countries.

One of the most heartrending moments was when I visited the Great
Ormond Street Hospital in London, where children were dying of cancer.
I asked why heroin was prescribed? The nurses replied: "They prefer
heroin as it eases their pain and gives them a fuzzy feeling." Surely,
I thought, that was the least that could be done for them.

In London, I interviewed Scotland Yard detectives, who told me there
was no problem with security. They and the drug officials in Edinburgh
said they had more important problems to worry about.

I discovered that heroin was the first medication emergency doctors
administered to heartattack victims, to relieve their pain and anxiety.

Doctors were also prescribing heroin to women with difficult
childbirth, and patients with severe burns.

And family physicians told me they always carried heroin in their bags
in case they encountered an accident where it was needed. In other
words, all I had heard from the medical establishment in Canada was
untrue.

So what happened? On my return, I wrote more columns about the medical
need of heroin. Finally, readers who had lost a loved one and
witnessed their final agony, sent me letters and money to promote this
cause. Eventually I delivered 40,000 stamped letters (not emails) to
the federal minister of health in Ottawa all demanding that
politicians legalize heroin for terminal cancer patients.

On Dec. 20, 1984, the minister of health announced the government's
intention to legalize heroin as a painkiller.

Readers donated $500,000 to establish the Gifford-Jones Professorship
in Pain Control and Palliative Care at the University of Toronto
Medical School.

Thirty-seven years later, the minister of health of Ontario has
announced that doctors will no longer be able to prescribe high-dose
opioids to either addicts or cancer patients.

It's an asinine ruling that must be challenged.

Everyone must ask this question: "Why should a loved one in final
agony be denied high doses of opioids just because addicts want to get
high?"

The lack of good sense remains the same. For example, an official
associated with this study remarked: "It is reassuring that the vast
majority of palliative care patients will not be impacted by this
policy." Why would anyone make such a foolish statement? Isn't there
any empathy for others who will be affected?

Families of the dying should vigorously protest when loved ones suffer
from inadequate painkillers. English specialists told me patients in
severe pain do not become addicted to painkillers and can be weaned
off huge doses quickly if remission of malignancy occurs.

It's hard to believe that cancer patients with a few days to live are
denied sufficient painkillers for fear of addiction. Today, common
sense has become an uncommon commodity.
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