DRIVING HIGH

Most experienced injury lawyers know it. We know the abuse of prescription pain medication behind the wheel is rising. We now see pain meds abuse in more crashes than booze and weed combined. Anecdotal? You bet. But with 25 years plus experience, we know a thing or two about car crashes.

Prescription pain meds genuinely have a place in the management of chronic pain. But under the watchful supervision of your family doctor who knows you, your medical history, and your pain. Prescription meds can be a vital part of a larger treatment plan that includes physical rehabilitation and therapy.

But driving high on painkiller medication has no place on our busy roads.

How do experienced injury lawyers even know it's happening?

Records

Your personal injury lawyer gets prescription records, family doctor records, ambulance records, hospital and emergency room records and specialist records. For our injured client as well as the at fault driver who caused the crash.

It's not unusual to get a copy of the pharmacy records and find a laundry list of over 20 plus drugs prescribed to the at fault driver by treating physicians over the past few years. And it's more likely than not that at fault driver did a once around the medical cabinet and ended up driving high on a self-crafted potion of drugs both old and new.

Sometimes partners, parents and siblings share pain meds when long waits for family doctor appointments or no family doctor at all ramps up the pressure. They see the suffering of a loved one and want to help. But that kind of help gets people killed. Including other innocent drivers, cyclists and pedestrians on our streets.

Chronic pain is real. But spreading that pain to innocent drivers on our roads is never an acceptable side effect of anyone's personal pain management plan.

Rural Realities

Injury lawyers practicing in rural Canada know public transit and cabs rarely exist. Walking to work isn't an option in the country. Driving is the only viable transportation from home to work and back again. There are options including sharing the gas money and asking a close neighbour or family for rides. This doesn't always work out long term. Experienced injury lawyers who know and live in rural Canada know people get behind the wheel regardless. Community support networks try hard. Chronic pain is increasingly accepted as a known barrier and local transpo efforts including pickle buses and shuttles are a huge help. But there aren't enough of them. And funding is a chronic problem.

There's no practical solution in sight. The abuse of prescription pain medication behind the wheel is here to stay. And it's growing.

When you have been injured in a car crash and suspect the at fault driver was impaired, call your local experienced injury lawyer.

Martin Law knows a crash is never just an accident.

Call Martin Law to find out where you stand.