Faces of the opioid crisis: Pain expert on the puzzle of what to prescribe

Ask Montreal pain specialist Yoram Shir about the deadly opioid crisis ravaging North America, and he immediately calls for perspective on the rivers of narcotic pills running into so many homes. Nothing here is black or white, says Shir, director of the McGill University Health Centre’s Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit, starting with the ubiquitous nature of pain. One in four people suffers from chronic pain — a condition that is arduously resistant to therapy. But the best painkiller in the medicine cabinet risks turning the patient into a drug-abusing addict.

Read more: Montreal Gazette