United States drug overdose death rates and totals over time

• Investing in programs like SUAP is a key part of the renewed Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy also released today.
• The Government of Canada is using an integrated approach to address the overdose crisis and other substance use harms in Canada.
• "We recognize the tragic toll the overdose crisis and other substance use related harms are taking on families, friends and communities across Canada.
• Since 2017, over $500 million has been committed through Health Canada's Substance Use and Addiction Program for more than 380 projects.

• The Netflix series Painkiller recently depicted how the over-prescribing of the medicine OxyContin wreaked havoc on American society.
• Today the grim reality is that opioid-related deaths in North America reached a record level in 2022, with more than 109,000 fatalities in the United States.
• The opioid overdose crisis has been ongoing for over two decades in Canada and the U.S.

The roots of the crisis

• After introduction of the opioid painkiller OxyContin in 1996, Purdue Pharma marketed the drug aggressively, underplaying its potential for addiction.
• To address addiction, prescription monitoring programs aimed to limit supply but many patients then sought illicit opioids, leading to large heroin markets in the 2010s.
• Fentanyl is extremely toxic — up to 100 times stronger than heroin — and is largely responsible for the increase in overdose deaths.

1. Treat substance use disorders as a public health problem

• In reality the data shows that illegal drug prices have fallen whilst purity and deaths have increased.
• Overdose deaths have also increased in prisons showing that places with even the highest level of security are vulnerable to drug smuggling.
• Focusing on the opioid crisis through a public-health approach includes massively increasing access to care and treatment for patients experiencing substance use disorder.

2. Find better treatments through research

• Although these are effective when used, there are barriers to access and long-term engagement with these treatments.
• We need more innovation to rapidly increase access to care and to find better therapies that suit the needs of different patients.
• These research initiatives aim to increase the number of evidence-based treatments that can be used to enhance patient recovery and quality of life.

3. Stop the international spread of the epidemic

• Currently the epidemic is contained within North America but there is the real concern of the crisis spreading to other countries.
• Clinicians must remain actively vigilant on how they prescribe these drugs.
• There should be greater international regulation in the marketing and operational strategies of pharmaceuticals, and oversight of the “revolving door” between industry and regulator employment.
• There is a potential conflict of interest when pharma companies hire the government employees who oversee their applications.

• Gisele Bündchen, Jessica Simpson & Howard Hughes made real estate news in September.
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• Gisele Bündchen is the new owner of a 7.5-acre equestrian ranch in Southwest Ranches, Florida.
• Howard Hughes was a brilliant entrepreneur whose interests included aviation, film production, and real estate.

• This program is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at evaluating the distribution of substance use and misuse on a national level.
• Biobot's work is a vital step forward in the country's collective efforts to address substance use and misuse.
• "Biobot Analytics was originally founded in 2017 to help communities address the opioid epidemic through wastewater monitoring," said Dr. Mariana Matus, CEO and Cofounder of Biobot Analytics.
• The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.