Addressing substance use

One of the Correctional Service of Canada's (CSC) top priorities is ensuring that individuals incarcerated in Canada's federal institutions have access to:

• quality
• safe, and 
• patient-centered care

Substance use is a chronic disease that requires a range of:

• prevention
• treatment
• harm reduction measures, and 
• other supports

Consistent with the Government of Canada’s Canadian Drugs and Substance Strategy and recommendations by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, CSC has adopted a treatment and harm reduction approach aligned with community standards.

A comprehensive suite of health services with a range of interventions

​​​Opioid agonist treatment (OAT)

• in response to the global opioid overdose crisis
• provided to patients with an opioid use disorder
• CSC works with an expert physician from the community who provides ongoing leadership and advice

Self management and recovery training (SMART)

• is a substance use intervention focused on
  • behaviours
  • thoughts, and
  • feelings

to support incarcerated individuals as they work toward their substance use goals (harm reduction to abstinence)

• includes concurrent disorder treatment options and peer support components 

The Prison Needle Exchange Program (PNEP)

• ten PNEP locations currently available at 9 institutions, with further implementation in progress
• PNEP helps reduce the sharing of needles and the transmission of infectious diseases

Overdose prevention services (OPS)

• provides a safe location within the health care area of an institution where sterile equipment can be used
• currently available in two locations, with further implementation in progress ​

Peer Support Program and Indigenous Peer Support Program

• ​availability of both non-Indigenous and Indigenous peer support workers
• Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups operate within many institutions

Naloxone

• available to first responders in the institutions to reduce risk of fatal overdose
• increased access to Naloxone in 2022 in areas where staff are not always present to ensure incarcerated individuals may access it directly, if needed

A variety of information is available to staff and offenders, including: 

• ​fact sheets
• guidelines
• Responsivity Kits, and 
• other resources​

Coordinated programs and interventions

CSC's continuum of correctional programs address multiple types of criminal offending including:

• ​general crime
• ​general violence
• family violence
• sexual violence/offending, and
• substance use

Correctional programs offered in CSC institutions

• Integrated Correctional Program Model
• ​Indigenous Integrated Correctional Program Model
• Inuit Integrated Correctional Program
• Women Offender Correctional Program
• Indigenous Women Offender Correctional Program ​

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