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Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine had been invited last November to contribute to the study given his prominent role in advocating for prescription drug reform. The committee is looking at possible government intervention for reducing the problem of prescription drug abuse.
Ottawa (20 Feb. 2014) - Commentators are reacting with shock to the news that the Conservative chair of a parliamentary study on prescription drug abuse cancelled the appearance of Nova Scotia's Minister of Health to make room for a drug company presentation.
Nova Scotian Liberal minister Leo Glavine, known as being highly critical of the drug industry, was scheduled to testify via teleconference with the House of Commons health committee on February 13. However, the night before he was uninvited at the direction of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) and health committee chairman Ben Lobb.
Study on government role in preventing prescription drug abuse
The Halifax Chronicle Herald reports that Glavine planned to argue that pharmaceutical companies have too much freedom to lobby doctors.
Glavine had been invited last November to contribute to the study given his prominent role in advocating for prescription drug reform. The committee is looking at possible government intervention for reducing the problem of prescription drug abuse.
"We hope that this decision is not politically motivated since he is the only witness that was disinvited," Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia said during the Thursday committee meeting.
Manufacturer of OxyContin given opportunity to appear
Lobb argues that the decision was not politically motivated. With Glavine being dropped from the list of presenters room was made for Purdue Pharma Canada, a division of Connecticut drug manufacturer Purdue Pharma L.P., which developed the painkiller OxyContin.
A copy of Glavine's speech was provided to the Chronicle Herald which outlines measures the Nova Scotia government is taking to better monitor prescription drugs. Glavine also intended to call on Ottawa to regulate pharmaceutical companies advertising to doctors.
Glavine claims that Canada has a poor international reputation for prescribing narcotics for mild pains that could be handled with alternative measures. This over-prescription of these medications results in higher levels of narcotic abuse.
"(Doctors) will honestly tell you that their education has come from the pharmaceutical companies. It has not come from med schools across the country," he said in an interview with the Chronicle Herald.
"As long as the pharmaceutical companies have that kind of grasp on the GPs across Canada, then we may not change the channel significantly on the abuse."
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