Fighting Prescription Drug Abuse

Health Minister Rona Ambrose pledged $13 million over five years to perform 1000 pharmacy inspections across the country to put a stop to the sale of highly addictive but legal pain prescription drugs on the streets of Canada.

“Our Government has made it a priority to fight prescription drug abuse, and we are investing heavily in a range of initiatives to address this issue. Our team of inspectors will be working in cooperation with pharmacies across the country to track, report, and monitor the movement of prescription drugs which will ultimately help ensure they are being used for the right reasons by the right patients.”
The Honourable Rona Ambrose
Federal Minister of Health

It’s part of the Government’s National Anti-Drug Strategy, a $44 million over five years program that has been expanded to include prescription drug abuse.

The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, along with Dr. Gregory Taylor, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, toured a local Edmonton Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy and discussed the announcement of federal funding to increase the number of annual pharmacy inspections carried out by Health Canada.

The strategy is laid out below:

Building Partnerships and engaging directly with stakeholders is a key component of the Government’s comprehensive strategy to address prescription drug abuse, including:

• A national symposium with sectoral leaders to discuss prescription drug abuse, co-hosted by the Minister of Health and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (January 2014).
• A roundtable co-hosted by the Minister of Health and Ontario First Nations leadership to discuss solutions to prescription drug abuse (June 2014).
• Two summits on addiction recovery focused on addressing the stigma associated with substance use disorders (December 2013, January 2015).
• A Prescribing Practices Forum at McMaster University on May 15, 2015, fostering engagement with health professionals from all fields on actions to improve prescribing practices in Canada.

Keeping communities healthy and safe by providing Canadians with tools they need to tackle prescription drug abuse in their communities, including:

• A public awareness campaign between October-December 2014, recently re-launched from May-July 2015, to equip parents with the information they need to talk with their teenagers about prescription drug abuse.
• Supporting the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police for the last two years in organizing National Prescription Drug Drop-Off Day, providing Canadians with the opportunity to safely dispose of their unused prescription drugs.
• $13.5M in funding over 5 years to enhance access to prevention and treatment capacity for prescription drug abuse within First Nations communities across Canada.
• $13 million over five years by the Government of Canada, to increase the number of annual pharmacy inspections carried out by Health Canada to help reduce the diversion of prescription drugs.
• Health Canada’s Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program for First Nations and Inuit delisted brand name OxyContin in February 2012. Furthermore, consistent with the advice of the NIHB Drugs and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (DTAC), generic long-acting oxycodone was not added to the NIHB formulary when it became available.

Supporting the health sector through targeted investments and actions to support innovative solutions and strategies to combat prescription drug abuse, including:

• Labelling changes for controlled-release opioid pain medicines to enhance their safe and appropriate use.
• An investment of $3.6 million to develop new guidelines and other training tools for physicians and other regulated healthcare professionals who prescribe and dispense drugs.
• $4.28 million for the Canadian Institute for Health Information to support a coordinated pan-Canadian approach for the monitoring and surveillance of prescription drugs, announced on May 15, 2015.
• $5 million over five years for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support research on new clinical and community-based interventions for preventing and treating prescription drug abuse.

The Announcement was made following a symposium on prescription drug abuse, where she met with provincial officials, doctors, pharmacists, First Nations representatives, law enforcement and addictions specialists. Discussions focused on identifying actions to address prescription drug abuse under the three action plans of the National Anti-Drug Strategy: prevention, treatment, and enforcement.

Last month the government announced $13.5 million to help combat prescription drug abuse on First Nations Reserves.

It’s allergy season and time for the survival tool essentials

Thanks in part to a seemingly never ending winter, Canadians are now contending with one of the worst allergy seasons in recent memory. Dubbed the ‘pollen vortex,’ seasonal allergy sufferers are in for a long summer thanks to the increased levels of pollen making their way through the air.

Millions of Canadians suffer from seasonal allergies, and according to a recent survey by Claritin, 1 in 7 Canadians described their or someone in their household’s allergies as severe. The survey also found that while 64 per cent said their allergies negatively affect their quality of life, 1 in 5 don’t seek relief at all.

If you’re part of the 80% looking for a way to relieve your allergy symptoms, here are some tools to keep in your seasonal allergy survival kit that may offer relief.

PTSD: The latest neuroimaging technology could mean a breakthrough for Canada’s military

“Post-traumatic stress disorder is a significant issue in the Canadian military. According to a report from the Library of Parliament, one in 10 veterans released between 1998 and 2007 were diagnosed with PTSD. The figure rose to 24 per cent when other mental health illnesses were considered, including depression and bipolar disorder.

Treatment is offered to current and former soldiers, but the military’s mental health services are strained. When symptoms become chronic, soldiers and veterans often have trouble working and face higher risks of alcohol abuse, drug addiction, run-ins with the law and suicide.

Some recover, others are released from the military because they are no longer well enough to serve. Before legislative changes in 2006, these veterans received lifetime payments for their injuries – now they’re offered lump-sum awards.

The disorder is a disfigurement of sorts, but unlike clearly physical injuries such as tissue damage or lost limbs, doctors haven’t had the equipment to scan for PTSD.

Until now.”

Read more on this Globe and Mail article here.