It’s tempting — very, very tempting — to say it’s about time. Overdue, in fact.
Thursday, the Canadian Institute for Health Information report on opioid pain-killing prescriptions in this country found that, based on the available information from four provinces (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia) the number of people being prescribed and using the drugs for medical reasons are falling.
Generally, the study shows fewer people are starting on opioids (9.6 per cent fewer), more people are leaving the drug, and the length of time the drugs are prescribed for is shorter, too.
Overall, there’s been an eight per cent decrease in the number of people taking the drugs between 2013 and 2018.
Why are those drops a good thing?
Consider some of these facts: “Canada is the second-largest per capita consumer of opioids in the world.”
“An American study found that an opioid overdose is more likely to occur in families where somebody in the household is prescribed an opioid.”
It’s important to note, though, that reducing the number of prescriptions for opioids is only part of the problem when it comes to the current opioid crisis, which has killed thousands.
“From January 2016 to June 2018, more than 9,000 Canadians died from apparent opioid-related harms.”
It’s important to note, though, that reducing the number of prescriptions for opioids is only part of the problem when it comes to the current opioid crisis, which has killed thousands.
“The opioid crisis is a complex public health issue. Safe and appropriate prescribing of opioids is only part of the solution, and illicit opioids continue to be a big part of the problem,” the report cautions. “Harms such as deaths, hospitalizations and emergency department visits due to opioids continue to increase, even with the downward trend in opioid prescribing. This highlights the importance of using a broad range of evidence-based strategies to combat the crisis.”
What do evidence-based strategies look like? Some of them are not popular in some political arenas: “Improved access to harm reduction and overdose prevention, such as naloxone kits and safe consumption sites; increased availability of resources to treat opioid use disorders, among other mental health conditions; and enhanced access to alternate treatments for chronic non-cancer pain.”
The simple point, though, is thanks to unethical prescription drug manufacturers and marketers, drugs that were sold as something to help people have, instead, harmed or killed tens of thousands. Getting those drugs onto the market was far simpler than trying to turn the clock backwards to undo the mess they have created.
It’s a stark lesson in the need for intense, tight regulation of drug companies that may see more importance in profits and the bottom line that they see in protecting people from harm.
The sad part is that it’s a story that seems to endlessly repeat itself. Years down the road, we might well be saying the same thing about vaping that we now say about the opioid crisis.
Why didn’t we see this coming?
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