I think it's absolutely necessary.
As practitioners, no matter what profession, it's our responsibility to do no harm and put the patients best interests first. Certainly in Ontario, choosing not to prescribe a medication because you are afraid of misuse or diversion actually is something that we can bill, as pharmacists, as practitioners, now. In Ontario, it's something we actually need to do.
On a national level, it's absolutely necessary. We need to be able to have that time and also the funding and education to be able to do no harm at times. Whether it be to restrict quantity, which I think is probably more reasonable....
Again, as Dr. Emberley alluded to earlier, we cannot just cut someone off from narcotics. That leads to problems. That's not smart. But at that point we can offer two days' supply, have the discussion—multi-disciplinarian—with their physician or dentist at that point, on Monday or Tuesday, or whatever day we can get together and have a conversation. Lots of times in my practice, because I am sensitive to addiction treatment, I'll say, I think we have identified a problem and there are solutions, so let's talk about the solution.
I think that's probably putting the respect first, but “do no harm” is absolutely necessary.