Opioid crisis has many fronts

Re Academics call for probe of opioid manufacturers’ marketing tactics, April 21 It is time that the thousands of Canadian victims of the opioid crisis received due recognition and assistance. The open letter calling for an investigation into opioid manufacturers, sent by the group of academics to the Canadian attorney general and minister of health, is a welcome step.

The opioid situation in Ontario is now a multifaceted crisis that must be fought on many fronts in order to effectively manage this catastrophe.

While “aggressive marketing of opioid products is one important cause of the crisis,” other key health-care players are also closely involved in this opioid scourge. Over-prescribing physicians, the colluding pharmacists who regularly fill these dubious prescriptions and the pushers of counterfeit drugs to opioid addicts must all be vigorously investigated and speedily brought to justice.

The $231-million federal budget allocation to deal with the opioid crisis is timely but will only lead to the desired results if increased access to proper treatment goes hand in hand with restraining the over-prescription of opioids, as well as curbing the availability of dangerous counterfeit drugs — which together fuel the current epidemic. Rudy Fernandes, president of Global Health Strategy Inc.