People wonder why pain medication shopping in other countries is on the rise. I never knew such a thing existed, but I had a friend who was driven by sheer desperation after being injured by a drunk driver and suffering severe nerve-related pain. His doctor stopped his medication due to the pressure from the government to reduce the dispensing of pain medicine. He decided he had two options: take his life or try and live a normal life where his pain was under control.

It is not fair that he ever had to make such a decision as he was injured by someone who was driving drunk yet walked away unharmed. No one should feel they need to go down this path, but he is alive, responsibly managing his pain (this is not about getting high or abusing pain medicine, it is about living a normal life), and his five children still have a father. While I do not condone this way of doing things, it does show what poor decision-making at the top drives people to do in desperation.

It is time this country has an honest debate about managing pain responsibly instead of this knee-jerk reaction because of what the irresponsible are doing. How about addressing the actions of the irresponsible and helping those in genuine need - is this too much to ask? I wonder how different it would be if those in charge of this country lived in severe pain - would how this issue is being managed be different?