Turtleford man wants change after he says he was overprescribed opioids

“It was not a good experience. I would have much rather gone to jail than go back to this hospital again,” he said. “I am scared they will just continue to push the opioids.”

Bohmann was discharged and given more opioids to take home, even after asking for non-opioid alternatives for pain relief. He eventually went to his family doctor who prescribed him what he requested.

Within days of coming off morphine, he said he started to experience and continues to grapple with withdrawal symptoms.

“I was not able to sleep correctly. I was always sweating, nauseous and falling down, just because there was so much in my system that I had to flush through,” he said, adding he is unable to perform maximum duties in his work as a site supervisor.

The experience has led him to question why doctors did not first try other pain killers like Tylenol or Advil and he is concerned with how the province regulates and prescribes opioids.

“To me, morphine should be used at end of life, not just for an average person off the street.”

Though he faced some negativity about coming forward, believes now is the time to “put faces to the names of people that have been overprescribed.”

Bohmann spoke Tuesday alongside NDP Mental Health and Addictions Critic Danielle Chartier, who called on the province to implement recommendations made by the provincial auditor.

In her early June report, Judy Ferguson called on the Ministry of Health to consider whether its monitoring activities of opioid prescribing and dispensing practices are sufficient to reduce opioid misuse and abuse.

Her report found that for the six most prescribed opioids, Saskatchewan’s prescribed rate stood well above the national average.

Further, Regina and Saskatchewan ranked number 1 and number 2, respectively, for opioid poisoning hospitalizations for cities over 100,000. The Queen City saw 28.3 per 100,000 in 2016-17, while Saskatoon recorded a rate of 26.1. Both are higher than Vancouver’s at 20.5 per 100,000.

“We need action today on this,” Chartier said.

The critic said the addictions issue needs to be addressed on many fronts but leading it should be mechanisms to ensure people don’t develop a dependency in the first place.

She admits opioids have a place in pain management but systems need to be established for responsible prescribing and dispensing.

“Monitoring isn’t super sexy and enhancing a review program isn’t very sexy but this is about getting ahead of things before they progress,” she said. “When it comes to pain management plans, no one should have to go through what Jeremy did.”

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tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr

by Tyler Marr

Turtleford man wants change after he says he was overprescribed opioids

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