$71M deal aims at opioids crisis, better treatment options in B.C.
TORONTO — The federal government signed a bilateral agreement Thursday with British Columbia that will see $71.7 million go toward addressing the opioids issue, with $33.98 million coming from Ottawa and the balance from the province.
Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the money was part of an emergency treatment fund included in the 2018 federal budget. In total, the provinces and territories will receive $150 million for opioidrelated initiatives, she said.
“This funding will enhance treatment and recovery options for individuals in British Columbia,” said Petitpas Taylor, who made the announcement alongside B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Judy Darcy at an opioid symposium in Toronto.
Darcy welcomed the federal funding.
“British Columbia is in the midst of the worst public health emergency in decades,” she said. “Before the end of this of this day, three to four people … will die, each of them leaving behind family, friends, loved ones and communities that are devastated by their loss.”
The federal funding will help increase supports for youth and Indigenous people living with addiction, expand and enhance treatment options for opioids abuse and fill in the gaps between treating people for overdoses in emergency rooms and connecting them with addictions treatment and recovery services, she said.
“It’s critically important to understand how and why people seek treatment but also how and why they may leave treatment so that we can do everything in our power to prevent people from falling through the cracks and going back to a poisoned drug supply on the street,” Darcy said.
The money will also help create 25 supportive residential treatment beds, which offer 90 days of opioid substitution treatment, psychosocial care, life skills training and aftercare support, she said.
It’s still unclear how much impact the new money will have on Vancouver Island.
“We are working on our plan and will submit it to the province next week for approval,” said Meribeth Burton, a spokesperson for Island Health.
“We cannot confirm the additional funds coming to Island Health until after that process is complete.”
Burton said the health authority would like more resources to identify high-risk clients and link them to community treatment programs that use methadone or suboxone.
Petitpas Taylor said it is the fourth such agreement regarding the opioids issue and Ottawa will be negotiating with the remaining provinces and territories, including Ontario, in the coming months.
Thursday’s announcement came as Ontario grapples with the future of its overdose prevention facilities, after the provincial government announced last month it would halt the opening of new sites while it conducts a review of their effectiveness.
British Columbia offered to share its experience with the sites, saying nearly 2,000 overdoses had been reversed — and no lives lost — at the province’s facilities in the last year.
More than 3,800 people died from opioids in Canada in 2017, compared to 2,978 in 2016, according to the latest figures published by Health Canada.