233159
231507

BC  

Heroin to curb opioid crisis

Health Canada's proposal to loosen regulations on importing prescription-grade heroin to treat opioid addiction is being hailed as a crucial step to reducing fentanyl-fuelled deaths across the country.

Drug policy campaigner Caitlin Shane, who is with the advocacy group Pivot Legal Society, said 931 overdose deaths last year in British Columbia alone point to the urgent need to treat people struggling with opioid use disorder.

"The need is so profound in B.C. and other provinces. It's so necessary to look at the failures of drug prohibition and to see what other options are available to deal with this crisis," Shane said.

"It seems that were this crisis related to any other population it would be dealt with differently, it would be more of a priority for every level of government," she said, adding stigma against drug users has prevented increased access to medication for a legitimate health issue.

British Columbia is the hardest-hit province when it comes to opioid deaths, with 347 fatalities recorded by the coroners' service between January and March of this year.

Canada approved prescription heroin treatment in September 2016 for substance users who did not respond to other therapies such as methadone and suboxone.

Dr. Scott MacDonald, lead physician at Vancouver's Crosstown Clinic, said about 100 people are currently being treated with prescription heroin, or diacetylmorphine, at the only such facility in North America.

Patients are given a syringe of medical-grade heroin, which they inject themselves, up to three times a day under a nurse's supervision.



More BC News