Estate Planning

Ontario Unveils Prescription Narcotics Strategy

By Hull and Hull LLP

Last Friday, the Ontario Ministry of Health announced plans to introduce legislation later this month that will allow the province to expand its drug database to track prescription drugs. The narcotics database will identify prescription ‘hot spots' and alert officials when a patient attempts to fill prescriptions from multiple doctors at multiple pharmacies. Prescriptions under both public and private drug plans will be monitored. [Currently, the tracking system only tracks drugs prescribed under a provincial program that funds meds for seniors, welfare recipients and the disabled.] Provincial Health Minister Deb Matthews indicates that the plan will also work with regulatory groups like the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to create ‘better pain management strategies for its members'. The proposed narcotics strategy has received resounding support from both the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Ontario Pharmacists' Association.

Earlier this year, I blogged about the issue of ‘doctor shopping', defined as the practice of visiting numerous doctors, dentists, or pharmacies to fraudulently obtain prescriptions for non-medicinal use. Of particular concern are narcotics and other controlled substances, including painkilling opioids (including morphine, codeine-containing Tylenol 2s, 3s and 4s, Percocet, Oxycontin, and Fentanyl), stimulants (amphetamines such as Ritalin) and sedatives (such as Valium, Xanax, and Ativan).  Some stark statistics:
• In the past decade, prescriptions for oxycodone-containing drugs jumped 900% in Ontario. Last year, under the OHIP drug plan, the province spent over $150 million for narcotics, half of which was for Oxycontin.
• 18% of students (Grades 7 – 12) report using prescription opioids non-medicinally in the past year. The overwhelming source for the students' opioids was not schools, or the street, but their own homes.
• Ontarians, per capita, use three times more prescribed narcotics than patients in other provinces.
• Last year, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that in Ontario, accidental deaths due to opioid use exceeded deaths from HIV.

As an aside, I am curious: In estate proceedings where testamentary capacity is in dispute, will the contents of the narcotics database be accessible pursuant to court-ordered production of 'all relevant medical records'?
 

Jennifer Hartman, Guest Blogger
 

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on September 01, 2010 (boomark / email).