Physicians and harm reduction workers say the need for a safer opioid supply as a way to curb overdose deaths is even more urgent now in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. “If safe supply were something that was readily available to people who use drugs, it would drastically increase their ability to stay put and stay in place, wherever they deem their home to be,” said Andrea Sereda, a family physician at the London InterCommunity Health Centre in London, Ont.
She has been prescribing hydromorphone pills since last year to more than 100 patients who relied on illegal street opioids and were at risk of overdosing.
There were more than 14,700 opioid-related overdose deaths in Canada from 2016 to 2019, most of which were non-pharmaceutical