A new report from The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) suggests restricting all high-dose opioid prescriptions to help address Canada鈥檚 painkiller addiction problem.
Canada has the highest rate of prescription opioid use in the world, with consumption of prescription opioids doubling between 2001 and 2004 and increasing 70 per cent between 2004 and 2011.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a very serious concern across the country about opioids and the escalating numbers of opioid overdoses and deaths,鈥� federal Health Minister Dr. Jane Philpott said Monday.
The CAMH report outlines some of the reasons behind the crisis such as lack of education among medical professionals as well as failed government initiatives.
They highlight the instance when the Ontario government removed OxyContin from drug plans, which resulted in the rise of prescriptions for drugs such as fentanyl, which is up to 100 times more potent than morphine and has been linked to a number of deaths across Canada.
鈥淲hen opioid policy targets only particular opioids or formulations, use patterns may simply shift, with targeted opioids merely replaced by others,鈥� CAMH wrote in their report.
鈥淓vents of the past few years serve to illustrate one of the key challenges of opioid policy: unless it addresses all opioids, use patterns may simply shift without a reduction in harm 鈥� or harms may even increase. Solving the opioid crisis will necessarily require reducing the availability of prescription opioids.鈥�
And some provinces have already started restricting access.
In July, 2016, Ontario鈥檚 provincial government announced that, as of January, 2017, they are removing high-dose opioids such morphine and fentanyl, from the Ontario Drug Benefit (OBD) program, with exceptions for palliative care.
However, Philpott points out: 鈥淭he response to the crisis needs to be comprehensive. There鈥檚 no single solution that鈥檚 going to solve it.鈥�
鈥淭he response needs to be evidence based, it needs to be collaborative [鈥 and it needs to be compassionate,鈥� the minister said on Monday.
CAMH is on the same page, citing accessible pain management, addiction treatment, and harm reduction services among a number of other actions as part of the plan to address the epidemic.
A review of the 2010 Canadian opioid guidelines is currently being conducted, with the release of the new guidelines expected in 2017.
Until the new guidelines are in place, CAMH urges clinicians to follow the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, which specify that opioids should not be the first-line of treatment for chronic non-cancer pain.
The government is also holding a national summit on opioids in Ottawa Nov. 18 where organisations including CAMH and other experts will be present.
