Crisis of opioids: the federal government wants to facilitate access to methadone

News 26 March, 2018
  • Archival Photo Chantal Poirier

    QMI agency

    Monday, 26 march 2018 17:55

    UPDATE
    Monday, 26 march 2018 17:56

    Look at this article

    In the Face of the scourge of the crisis of opioid in the country, the federal ministry of Health to facilitate access to methadone and heroin drug for addicts.

    Now, doctors will be able to prescribe and administer methadone without asking for an exemption in the law. Up to now they were forced to claim a federal waiver, which included, among others, the requirement to complete training on the treatment.

    “We do this because the need to have an exemption has discouraged many family doctors to offer the treatment”, explained the minister of Health, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, at a press conference Monday.

    As to the heroine of pharmaceutical grade, or diacetylmorphine, it can now be administered to patients outside of hospitals, especially in clinical treatment.

    These changes to the Regulations on narcotic drugs will be effective in mid-may.

    According to testimonies collected by Health Canada with stakeholders in the middle, the slightest obstacle to the use of a treatment may be reluctant to do patients.

    Among other measures announced Monday, the federal government will invest $ 18 million in research projects regarding, among others, the control of substances in the consumption sites and supervised and on the use of opioids in the treatment of pain.

    Health Canada has also detailed how it would spend the $ 231 million spent on the crisis of opioids in budget 2018.

    An envelope of $ 150 million of emergency funds will be allocated to the provinces and territories.

    The border services will have $ 31.6 million in order to better identify and intercept the fentanyl and other dangerous substances. The rest of the money will be used to fund a public awareness campaign, to develop new approaches to treatment and to improve access to data.

    The crisis of opioids has been 4000 deaths in Canada in 2017 alone, according to figures from the ministry of Health.