RESPONDING TO FENTANYL

Up to now, Montreal has largely been spared the worst of the fentanyl crisis that has taken such a horrible toll in Vancouver and certain other parts of Western Canada. But the city’s luck is starting to run out. The extremely powerful synthetic opioid is increasingly being found in street drugs in this city. As its presence increases, the result will be sadly predictable: more fatal overdoses by users, many of them unaware of its presence or of its power.

So it is good to see that public authorities and community workers are treating this deadly threat with the seriousness that it deserves.

On Tuesday, Montreal officials raised the alarm and called upon the province to come up with a plan.

A day later, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette and Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois announced that naloxone, a life-saving drug that counters opioid overdoses, will be made widely available; pharmacies will provide free kits to the public, and police and firefighters (not only ambulance crews) will carry them. This is a quick, common sense move for which the provincial government deserves credit.

Barrette also pointed out that the recent opening of safe-injection sites is another factor that stands to help reduce the toll in Montreal. However Vancouver also has several such sites; while they are helpful, no one is suggesting they are a panacea.

A more comprehensive plan is promised by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, police are making fentanyl a top priority, according to a report Friday in La Presse. Keeping the substance off the street, and out of the hands of users, is obviously a key factor in overdose prevention.

Community organizations are also doing what they can. Pamphlets are being distributed to raise awareness. There have also been calls for the hours of supervised-injection sites to be lengthened, for naloxone to be distributed by those who work with addicts (and not just by pharmacies), and for the methadone program to be expanded. Those are all sound ideas.

While the immediate situation requires immediate responses, it’s also time for Canadians to do some deeper thinking. Opioid addiction, some of which is rooted in the overprescription of certain painkillers, is undoubtedly dangerous and harmful; but would it not be wiser to deal with it as a medical and social problem, rather than a criminal one? How many break-and-enters, how much prostitution, is the work of desperate addicts? How many die after consuming tainted street drugs? How many addicts fill our jails?

Addiction is a complicated problem, but clearly, there are better ways to handle it than we do now.