A New Law in Toronto Aims to Curb Opioid Overdoses

Opioid abuse in Toronto is — as it is all around the world — in epidemic proportions. It’s a major public health crisis, and there have been numerous hurdles to creating policies or legislation that has any real effect on the number of overdose cases. Although officials don’t want to encourage people to use drugs, the lack of acknowledging the problem or giving any real resources for rehabilitation means that drug addicts have only been pushed further underground, leading to disastrous results and a higher rate of opioid drug overdose.

The passage of Bill C-37, proponents believe, is a huge step towards taking aim at the opioid crisis in Canada. The bill shows a new commitment to tackling the reduction of overdose; it makes it easier for drug users to use out in the open without fear of prosecution. The law hopes to allow people to be monitored better so that addicts don’t end up killing themselves. It means that users who want help don’t need to worry about being criminally prosecuted, so they can get the help they need.

Although the law has passed, many are concerned that it will be caught up in bureaucracy and red tape, taking time that addicts may not have when it comes to drug use and overdosing. The rising death toll and the effects on many communities across Canada need an immediate response, not the rollout and the gradual processes laws typically require to create real change. A criminal attorney in Toronto can attest that every day the law isn’t set into motion means more deaths that don’t need to happen.

Territorial and Provincial governments are encouraged to act immediately to ensure that funding is available to provide safer consumption services, and so that those who want to get treatment for opioid addiction can do so. If the life-saving resources aren’t out there, then they won’t make a difference in the lives of those looking for help. If there isn’t a systematic and immediate plan put into action, then the new laws are nothing but words on paper. The epidemic of drug overdosing in Canada is similar to a virus. If it isn’t tackled immediately, it will continue to spread unchecked.

The statistics show that over 400 individuals in Ontario died in just the first six months of 2016, which was up about 11% from the previous year. Overdose deaths have risen by as much as 66% in the years 2016-2017 in B.C., which is an alarming rate. And what’s more shocking is that there doesn’t seem to be any end to the increase. To date, opioid overdoses have killed more than 2300 people just in Canada. That number is more than those who have died from any infectious epidemic in Canada.

Unlike other governmental program implementation, there isn’t time for the lag to reach those who need the services. Health authorities need not put any additional delays on operational standards or procedures of care. When you are dealing with deaths every day, it’s not the time to sit back and devise a plan. Bill C-37 needs to start in the middle and keep going, rather than being built from scratch. When it comes to meeting the immediate needs of the people in the community, any delays could be deadly.

The key to Bill C-37 having an impact on opioid overdose is that there need to be safe- consumption services put into place for those people who already have an addiction to opioids or other drugs. That includes the ability of professionals to help administer safe amounts and to monitor users. It also involves providing drug addicts alternatives like methadone, hydromorphone, diacetyl morphine, and buprenorphine to replace the dangerous drugs they are currently taking.

The repressive legislation of trying to control drug use in Canada has not worked, which is evident by the epidemic proportions of drug overdose nationwide. The hope is that Bill C-37 will stop driving users underground and will give them the resources to save themselves. It isn’t a fostering of drug use; it is giving people an option to try to find a new normal to live and not to continue to take their addiction too far and risking death.