According to a recently-released study, the over-prescription of opioid medication is a contributing factor to the current opioid crisis in North America.
The new study by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network suggests that in 2016, nearly one-third of people who died in an opioid-related death had an active opioid prescription at time of death. This means that among the 2,833 opioid-related deaths in the study, 997, victims had an active opioid prescription.
Diverted and/or illicit opioids play an important role in opioid-related deaths as the incidence of overdose deaths involving the use of fentanyl analogues has been steadily increasing. The federal government states that nearly 4,000 apparent opioid-related deaths were reported across Canada 2017. Of these, 92 per cent were accidental and mainly involved fentanyl analogues.
Despite recent evidence of decreasing rates of opioid prescribing across Canada, the prevalence of exposure to opioids remains high with an opioid being prescribed to one in eight Ontarians to manage pain in 2016.
Considering these trends, the study concludes that the success of programs and policies designed to tackle the ongoing opioid crisis must consider all the various sources of opioids.
Read the Ontario Drug Policy Research Networks’ full report. https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k3207