Curb ‘rampant prescribing of opioids and reduce deaths,’ Canadian doctors say

published on November 7, 2016 in CBC News

It’s late, but not too late, for Canada to reduce the toll of opioid overuse and abuse

Use of prescription opioids in Canada has risen steadily over the past 20 years, with skyrocketing misuse, disorders and deaths, say experts who call for enforceable guidelines and a national strategy to address overprescribing.

In Monday’s the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Prof. Benedikt Fischer of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and his co-authors say it’s late, but not too late, for Canada to reduce the toll of opioid overuse and abuse.

National surveillance data is spotty, but surveys suggest that by 2010, more than 1 in 20 adults and as many as 1 in 6 adolescents were using prescription opioids for non-medical purposes.

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In a related commentary, M. Eugenia Socias and Keith Ahamad, researchers at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver, also called for a national strategy in Canada to address overprescribing of opioids, and expand treatment facilities and services for addiction, especially through care providers.

The federal government is holding a national summit on opioids in Ottawa on Nov. 18.