A new coalition of advocates is calling on Premier Doug Ford to take greater action to address the opioid crisis, describing the government’s current approach as “too narrowly defined.”
The Alliance for Advancing Recovery, which recently launched, is made of Ontario-based health workers, pharmaceutical experts, first responders, union leaders and big city mayors.
This includes groups like Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM), Registered Practical Nurses' Association of Ontario, and LiUNA.
“We can't look at the crisis in a silo of just one specific ministry,” Shakira Spence, spokesperson for the alliance, told The Trillium outside the legislature where members were handing out T-shirts and pamphlets.
A main recommendation, written in a policy paper released by the alliance at the end of October, is for a cross-ministry task force to tackle the crisis, comprising of government officials, stakeholders and experts across multiple files.
Spence said that for some people, opioid use may be a coping issue for social challenges such as housing or income inequality. A task force, she noted, would “help people get off of opioid use and then also stay off by improving better access to homes or better access to social services.”
This isn’t a unique request, as months ago OBCM called for a single ministry to address the homelessness and addictions crisis in Ontario.
At the time, the group argued the government’s current approach wasn’t consistent, and that having a plan come through a single ministry set up to address not just recovery or addictions, but also housing and mental health, would allow for a more co-ordinated approach. OBCM argued that 16 ministries are tackling the crisis.
The new policy paper also advocates for an increase in same-day treatment and the creation of a new program that would connect individuals with opioid use disorders with physicians and other providers virtually.
”Given the nature of addiction, delays in accessing treatment within this often brief window can lead to a loss of motivation and a return to substance abuse,” the report says.
“By offering people access to remote assessment and treatment options, either virtually or over the phone, Ontario could offer an important new point of access for people wanting to access treatment services but, for a variety of reasons, face barriers.”
As such, the alliance is also asking for an “alternative” funding approach for this kind of care and allowing pharmacists to “more fully participate in the care of those seeking treatment.”
Supervised consumption sites or the Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) centres set to replace them are not mentioned in the policy paper.
The Alliance’s report notes that Ontario experienced over 2,647 deaths from opioids in 2023, with the number of people receiving treatment remaining stagnant over the last four years.
A spokesperson for the health minister didn’t respond to questions about whether or not the recommendations in the report will be considered. Instead, the minister’s office touted the government's “Roadmap to Wellness,” which includes $3.8 billion over 10 years for a number of treatment programs — including one that is virtual.
“This is all on top of the additional $396 million over three years for mental health and addiction services, including $124 million to support the Addictions Recovery Fund for more recovery beds and new mobile mental health clinics,” Hannah Jensen said.
