Stupid comment from Mr. Morrison, the REO of Region 5

Apr 28, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I have been following this story in both Kaieteur News, and on the internet, and what strikes me most is the lack of understanding, among those who have expressed an opinion on this issue, about the nature of drug addiction (or if you want to be “nice”, drug dependence).
I do not know why this lady started taking the drug, Pethidine; but it is a useful painkiller, often administered to ease labor pains in mothers. However it is also an opioid, that is, a synthetic drug that contains the pain killing chemicals found in opium. And like opium, it is addictive. I suspect, from all that I have read, that the lady has become addicted (dependent) on Pethidine. Now there are two responses that I have seen, neither of which is particularly helpful.
On the one hand there are those who condemn the lady. Yes, it is wrong to use one’s position to gain access to a drug. But it is the nature of drug dependency that the dependent person will do whatever it takes to get a “fix”. But the term “drug addiction” has a pejorative meaning, because a number of addictive drugs are illegal, and can incur jail sentences.
Such drugs include, heroin, opium, marijuana, although not alcohol or nicotine which are also addictive. And here is the problem. Legal painkillers, prescribed by a physician, can also be addictive. People who become addicted to these drugs are often reluctant to admit to addiction, because of the negative connotations of that term. They are therefore reluctant to seek the help they need.
On the other hand there are those, many of her political allies, who are equally reluctant to admit that there is a problem that needs to be tackled. There is a letter from the head of the regional office criticizing the nurse who spoke about the problem, because, it was said, she is not a doctor and does not prescribe medications. That was perhaps the most stupid comment on the affair. The nurse, according to news reports, is a midwife.
If she is worthy of that position she must know the accepted maximum dose of the drugs she uses (I did mention that it is used to ease labor pains, did I not?). I am neither a doctor nor a nurse, just a reasonably intelligent person who did a Google search for “Pethidine” and found a wealth of information about the drug. Surely the head of a regional authority could do the same before making a comment like that?
Then there are those, many, it seems, her political allies, who say they will not abandon her because she is a good worker. That is surely not the point. No one should abandon her, not because she is, or is not, a good worker, but because she needs help from her friends.
This leads me to another comment from a “friend” who said that he/she knew of the lady’s dependency for some time but had apparently done nothing so far, because to cut her off from the drug could lead her to commit suicide. This “friend” seems not to know the difference between cutting off from a drug and seeking treatment and encouraging the addicted individual to undergo counseling and treatment for drug addiction – which is what she needs.
For all those who would condemn this lady as well as those who would deny that there is a problem, may I point out that drug dependency, especially opioid, is a well-known negative associated with these pain killers, useful though they may be. Betty Ford, the wife of former President Gerald Ford, became addicted to painkillers, and underwent treatment for it.
Michael Jackson died of an overdose of a painkiller that he had been prescribed for chronic back pain. Which of these two solutions do those who call themselves her friends prefer?
Pat Robinson

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Stupid comment from Mr. Morrison, the REO of Region 5

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