Summary
"Across Canada, far too many people are dying from drug overdoses. Overdose deaths due to medical and non-medical drug use are now the third leading cause of accidental death in Ontario. A significant proportion of these deaths have been attributed to opioids.1 Drug overdose is not confined to one group of people but can affect anyone, including people taking prescribed opioids. The tragedy is that many of these deaths could have been prevented with measures such as training, increased availability of naloxone (an emergency medication that reverses the effects of opioids,) improved efforts to encourage people to call 911 during an overdose event, and better prescribing practices. The purpose of this policy brief is to discuss the multi-jurisdictional policy barriers that hinder the scale-up of opioid overdose prevention and treatment initiatives in Canada. This brief provides an overview of the scant available data on drug overdoses in Canada and discusses key initiatives and policy changes that could mitigate the high number of injuries and deaths amongst people who use opioids. We close by offering recommendations to both the federal and provincial governments. This brief can be used to advocate for changes to the policy context of overdose. Readers interested in implementing overdose prevention programs are directed to an emerging set of excellent Canadian resources on this issue."--Pages 3-4.