The ongoing opioid crisis in London was the subject of a roundtable discussion with the federal health minister at Western University.
Jane Philpott joined Mayor Matt Brown, Middlesex-London’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie, London MPs Kate Young and Peter Fragiskatos, and local drug addiction experts for the meeting on opioid abuse Thursday. The group discussed several proactive and reactive approaches that could be undertaken to cut down on the number of Londoners who have become dependent on highly addictive painkillers.
"We know that people who are dealing with addiction come from all walks of life, live in all parts of our community," said Brown. "The question we need to ask ourselves is what can we do upstream of that addiction in terms of education, prevention and what can we do downstream in terms of providing the kinds of programs and services that people need when they want to stop using."
One of the harm reduction strategies London is considering is a supervised injection site, which allows drug users to inject pre-obtained illicit drugs with sterile needles, under the supervision of healthcare staff in a safe setting. The site was recommended in the Ontario Integrated Supervised Injection Services Study released in February.
"What we are preparing to do is public consultation in the fall of 2017," said Brown. "We have completed phase one of the study which indicates a significant problem here in our community and know we need to develop strategies to deal with that. It needs to be a made in London solution. The only way to get there is through community consultation."
The study found that of the 199 injection drug users in London that were surveyed, 65% said they inject drugs daily, 72% said they do so in public places, and 22% reported syringe sharing.
Figures released by the feds last month show there were 2,458 apparent opioid-related deaths across Canada in 2016. That prompted Philpot to begin holding roundtable discussions on the topic across the country.
"The opioid issue across the country is a crisis. We all have a role to play at the municipal level but also certainly at the provincial level and at the federal level as well. We really need a strategy to come from the federal government," said Brown.
Last month, London police were called to six incidents in a single weekend in which eight people experienced opioid overdoses. Of the eight overdoses, one was fatal.
The provincial government has announced $250,000 for the Middlesex-London Health Unit to tackle opioid abuse in the region. Some of the funds will be used to make Naloxone kits more widely available. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that counteracts the effects of an overdose.
Following Thursday's roundtable, Brown said he was confident the concerns surrounding opioid addiction in London were made clear to the federal government.
"We left [Philpott] with the impression that it is something that we are very focused on, it's a very serious issue in our community," said Brown.
