Losing the uphill battle? Emergent harm reduction interventions and barriers during the opioid overdose crisis in Canada |
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| Institution: | 1. University of Toronto, Canada;2. Toronto Overdose Prevention Society, Canada;3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States;4. South Riverdale Community Health Centre, Canada;1. Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity, 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6, Canada;2. Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada;3. School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 5804 Fairview Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada;4. Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, St. Paul''s Hospital, 608-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6, Canada;5. BC Centre on Substance Use, 400-1045 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2A9, Canada;1. Abt Associates, Rockville, MD, USA;2. Center for Health Promotion and Health Equity, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA;3. Department of Behavioral & Social Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI, USA;4. Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI, USA;5. The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, MA, USA;6. Department of Health Law, Policy & Management, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA;7. Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA;1. 5-21 HMT, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H4;2. Athabasca University, 1 University Drive, Athabasca, AB, T9S 3A3 |
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| Abstract: | Canada continues to experience an escalating opioid overdose crisis that has claimed more than 8000 lives in the country since 2016. The presence of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and its analogues is a central contributor to the increases in preventable opioid-related deaths. However, a number of converging social-structural factors (e.g., the continued criminalisation of drug use, political changes) and political barriers are also complicating and contributing to the current crisis. We briefly outline four harm reduction interventions (i.e., injectable opioid agonist treatment, naloxone distribution programs, overdose prevention sites, and drug checking services) as emerging and rapidly expanding responses to this crisis in Canada. These examples of innovation and expansion are encouraging but also occurring at the same time that the opioid overdose crisis shows few signs of abating. To truly address the crisis, Canada needs political environments at all government levels that are responsive and foster harm reduction innovation and drug policy experimentation. |
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| Keywords: | Harm reduction Overdose prevention Opioids Canada Naloxone Interventions |
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