The tide is turning, but the war on drug overdoses is far from over
As the accompanying chart shows, there was finally some good news last year: The number of overdose deaths fell slightly in 2022, down 1.5 per cent in B.C., 12 per cent in Alberta and an estimated 12.4 per cent in Ontario . The three provinces account for most of the overdose deaths in Canada. Fentanyl, once the cause in a minority of cases,For years, political leaders moved too slowly to grapple with overdose deaths.
The end goal has to be the successful treatment of individuals who are trapped in the grip of substance-use disorders. It’s a difficult goal, and a long journey for a person to get off dangerous drugs and the merciless grip of strong opioids. But successful treatment – requiring a major investment of public money and health care resources – means one less person exposed to a potential deadly overdose.
Improving a person’s life, by helping them get off drugs, is critical. Keeping people who are currently struggling with drugs alive is just as essential. As we have repeatedly said, a person who dies of a drug overdose cannot seek treatment. Political leaders are finally taking more action, but there has been sniping between political parties in B.C. and Alberta. Addiction is often entwined with challenges of housing and mental health. The scale and breadth of the issues demand that all policy options be deployed. This means everything from harm reduction – whether that’s supervised consumption sites, a regulated supply of pharmaceutical drugs or B.C.
One glaring issue in treatment is there isn’t a cohesive system to deliver it. Many facilities are privately run; some are publicly funded. And there’s not much government oversight. There’s also
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