The following is a brief reflection on the paper read in week ten, titled ‘The crisis is not abating’: Opioids killing more than 11 Canadians daily.

This article explains that opioids are taking nearly 11 lives everyday is Canada alone and that Canada is the second largest consumer of the substances (Weeks, 2018). It was explained that people who are homeless and and of low income are the largest consumers and that Western provinces have been the worse for opioid problems, however, Ontario is catching up and the healthcare system in to blame. Although there is a committee which includes health care professionals to help treat and prevent opioid overdoses, more needs to be done (Weeks, 2018). They believe that healthcare is to blame for the problem as they are not providing enough supports and treatment options for those who are addicted, and this occurs in many parts of Canada (Weeks, 2018). Physicians have also been cutting back on the amounts of pain killers that they give to patients in fear of them selling product, or overusing it and becoming addicted, however this lack of medication can cause people who are in chronic pain to look to the black market for these products.

I believe that health care does need to step it up and provide more upstream approaches to help prevent overdoses and addiction. Up stream approaches could include education and counseling at safe injection sites. Hospitals could also allocate funds to have more support systems within the hospital to help educate patients on the safe use of opioids, and the possible side effects that accompany the drugs.