Ontario launches plan to curb narcotics abuse
August 27, 2010
Joseph Hall
HEALTH REPORTER
Ontario has proposed a new plan to curb the rampant abuse of narcotics in the province, where prescriptions for drugs such as OxyContin have risen 900 per cent in the past decade.
With deaths and hospital admissions from misuse of prescription narcotics having doubled since 2004, provincial Health Minister Deb Matthews has laid out a plan to track and police their dispersal and educate doctors on proper pain management strategies.
The plan, which Matthews announced Friday in London, Ont., would create a narcotics database that would identify prescription ‘hot spots’ and alert officials whenever patients attempt to obtain or fill prescriptions from multiple doctors and pharmacies. Though intended to curb narcotic abuse, the database will track all prescription drugs, including other controlled substances such as Ritalin and Valium.
The province, which has the highest narcotics use in Canada, would also embark on a new set of initiatives to detect abuse, ranging from physician or pharmacist education to police involvement. Proposed legislation will be introduced at Queen’s Park this fall and must be passed by the legislature before it is enacted.
Opioids, referred to as narcotics, are used to treat moderate to severe pain. Examples include oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet), morphine, fentanyl and codeine.
Matthews says the plan will also work with regulatory groups like the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to create and dispense better pain management strategies for its members.
The province spent some $156 million on narcotics for more that 600,000 Ontario Drug Benefit Program recipients in the past year, according to a ministry briefing. About 50 per cent of these were OxyContin-related.
That worked out to almost 4 million prescriptions, or six per person at an average cost of $260 each.
Many of those filled prescriptions were falling into the hands of drug dealers, who were feeding a growing number of narcotics habits across the province. The problem has become especially acute in some Ontario native communities, a number of which have declared states of emergency over OxyContin abuse.
The plan would also launch educational programs for pharmacists and monitor those drug stores with high prescription rates.
It would also work on the patient side of the equation with initiatives that would, among other things:
• Educate them on safe and appropriate use of prescription narcotics and other controlled substances.
• Warn and educate young people on the addictive and potentially deadly consequences of inappropriate narcotics use.
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