Federal Actions on Opioids – Overview

Related Topics

• Opioid-related harms and deaths in Canada
• Opioids

(As of June 2019)

This overview identifies the actions taken by the Government of Canada since early 2016 to address the opioid crisis. It also provides a national picture of the public health impact of opioids in Canada.

Increased access to treatment

• Allowed the import of medications approved elsewhere for urgent public health needs
• Facilitated methadone prescribing and use of medical heroin
• Removed regulatory barriers to allow nurses to transport controlled substances
• Increased opioid agonist therapy in federal correctional facilities
• Enhanced the delivery of culturally appropriate substance use treatment and prevention services in First Nations and Inuit communities
• Improving access to treatment services through an Emergency Treatment Fund for provinces and territories
• Supporting the development of a national treatment guideline for injectable opioid agonist treatment
• Funding pilot projects on injectable opioid agonist treatment
• Supporting up to an additional 25 community based opioid agonist treatment sites in First Nations and Inuit communities
• Funding Isuarsivik Inuit Nation to support reconstruction of their treatment centre

Increased access to harm reduction

• Approved more than 39 supervised consumption sites and enabled establishment of overdose prevention sites
• Supported the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act which provides some legal protection for individuals who seek emergency help during an overdose
• Authorized drug checking services at supervised consumption sites
• Launched a drug checking technology challenge
• Launched a pilot project to examine needle exchange programs in federal correctional facilities and made it possible for overdose prevention sites to operate in federal correctional facilities
• Providing enhanced funding through the Substance Use and Addiction Program
• Facilitating access to naloxone, including for remote and isolated First Nations and Inuit communities

Increased awareness and prevention

• Supported the development of opioid prescribing guidelines and national treatment guidelines for opioid use disorders
• Updated opioid product monographs
• Further restricted opioid marketing activities and provided new resources to enforce existing rules
• Expanding public awareness around opioids and the harms of stigma:
  • Know More Campaign awareness tour for teenagers and yound adults
  • Summer festivals and post-secondary orientation activities and resources
  • National advertising campaign
  • Audio series In Plain Sight that highlights recovery stories
• Working with health professionals to decrease stigma and related barriers to care

Decreased tainted drug supply

• Equipped border agents with tools to intercept fentanyl and other dangerous substances at the border
• Pursued scheduling amendments to restrict importation of chemicals used to produce fentanyl, fentanyl-related compounds and amphétamines illegally
• Implementing a national operational strategy aimed at detecting, disrupting and dismantling criminal networks
• Working with domestic and international partners to reduce the illegal opioid supply
• Supporting education and training for law enforcement
• Supporting law enforcement with drug seizures and dismantlement of illegal drug operations
• Working with private sector partners to address the laundering of the proceeds of fentanyl trafficking

Increased evidence

• Coordinating national data collection and publishing quarterly reports on apparent opioid-related deaths and harms
• Releasing alerts on dangerous drugs; monthly data and quarterly reports on drugs submitted for analysis following law enforcement seizures
• Supporting research and knowledge sharing
• Increasing our understanding of Canadians' knowledge of the opioid issue, risks and willingness to act
• Established a Canadian Pain Task Force to assess best and leading practices that could improve the prevention and management of chronic pain in Canada

Learn more at Canada.ca/Opioids

Opioid-Related Deaths in Canada

In response to this complex crisis, the Government of Canada is taking a comprehensive, collaborative and compassionate public health approach focused on:

• Prevention
• Treatment
• Harm reduction
• Enforcement

This approach is supported by a strong evidence base.

Going forward, we will continue to address the crisis by:

• working to increase access to treatment;
• supporting innovative approaches;
• improving access to public health data;
• intercepting illegal opioids at the border; and,
• addressing stigma related to opioid use.

More than 11,500 lives were lost from January 2016 to December 2018

The death rate per 100,000 population:

• 12.0 in 2018
• 11.2 in 2017
• 8.4 in 2016

75% of accidental apparent opioid-related deaths in 2018 occurred among males

90% of deaths in 2018 were among young and middle aged adults, with those aged 30 to 39 particularly affected

Percent of accidental apparent opioid-related deaths involving fentanyl or fentanyl analogues:

• 54% in 2016
• 72% in 2017
• 73% in 2018