Panel releases recommendations as B.C. sees almost 4 deaths a day this February

published on April 6, 2018 by Estefania Duran in Global News

A Death Review Panel is recommending the provincial government to regulate and oversee treatment and recovery programs and facilities as part of the fight against the overdose crisis.

This is one of three key recommendations from the report released on Thursday. The panel also recommends expanding the access to evidence-based addiction care, including opioid agonist therapies.

Marshall Smith, chair of the B.C. Recovery Council welcomed the panel’s recommendations, saying it was “about time” recovery was prioritized.

Smith said B.C. has some of the world’s best private treatment facilities, but they’re not affordable to most. He said publicly funded care for people on the margins is also hard to access.

“[And] most importantly is the 90 per cent of people in between. We anecdotally refer to them as the walking wounded. They are out there, they can’t afford private care and they don’t qualify for public care, so often they continue to get sicker and sicker and are at risk.”

Smith said B.C. lacks a unified system of addiction care, something that he said the province could help achieve by stepping in to provide better support and regulation.

View the full article