Big-dose prescriptions of potent painkillers to 2,100 Nova Scotians ‘disturbing’
HALIFAX — More than 2,100 Nova Scotians have been given big-dose prescriptions of highly addictive painkillers this year, and addictions experts say the “disturbing” number demands the province must reform doctors’ prescribing habits.
Figures provided to The Canadian Press indicate 2,113 patients are receiving levels of opioids of 200 milligrams or more per day of morphine — enough to cause a fatal overdose to a newcomer to opioids.
Dr. Gus Grant, the registrar of the province’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, said the college is continuing to monitor physicians’ prescribing habits, and has been stepping up efforts to educate physicians to shift away from large prescriptions.
“To me it’s a disturbing number. It indicates we have a large cohort of patients maintained on dosages of medicine that are really unsupported by evidence and which exposes these patients to risks that exceed the benefits,” he said in a telephone interview on Monday.