Ensure Canada's response to the current opioid crisis is robust, well-coordinated and effective.

What success looks like

Federal opioid response is evidence-based, collaborative and comprehensive, and the harm caused by opioid use—including overdoses and accidental deaths—is reduced.

Government's narrative on progress

Problematic opioid use and overdose is an ongoing crisis in Canada, devastating individuals, families and communities. The federal government has been coordinating a whole of government response and working with provincial and territorial counterparts, engaging non-government partners and making significant investments to build the evidence base and take collaborative and comprehensive action across four strategic pillars: prevention, harm reduction, treatment and law enforcement. Budget 2017 committed $100 million over five years to support the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy including the opioid response. Budget 2018 committed an additional $231.4 million over five years to improve access to treatment, reduce stigma associated with drug use and continue to build the evidence base. The impact of some of these efforts will take time, and it remains troubling that recent data indicate the opioid crisis is ongoing. The Government of Canada is regularly engaging Canadians most impacted by the crisis to inform the response, including people who use or have used drugs, people with chronic pain and their families. In September 2018 the Minister of Health hosted a two-day Opioid Symposium bringing together over 225 policy makers, researchers, clinicians, Indigenous groups, people with lived and living experience, drug policy advocates and law enforcement representatives to discuss challenges and identify additional opportunities to address the crisis. The Minister of Health highlighted federal priorities, such as: to increase access to evidence-based treatments including injectable opioid therapy; to expand access to safer alternatives to the contaminated drug supply; to consult Canadians on the Canada Drugs and Substances Strategy; to engage innovators through an Impact Canada Challenge to improve opioid detection and testing technologies; to establish a task force on chronic pain; and, to reduce stigma associated with drug use. Moreover, Health Canada held an online consultation between September 5 and December 4, 2018 to deliver on the federal commitment to consult Canadians on the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy. This included four stakeholder workshops held in Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax. Over 1600 responses were received. The analysis of these responses has been completed, and a “What We Heard” report is in development (to be finalized for spring 2019). On October 2, 2018, the Government of Canada launched the Impact Canada Drug Checking Technology Challenge to create a rapid, accurate, easy to use, and low-cost testing device or instrument that can be used with minimal training and preparation work. The goal is to serve people who use drugs and those who support them, to allow them to make decisions that may reduce their risk of overdose and death. In March 2019, nine semi-finalists were selected by a judging panel established for this Challenge. Health Canada is in the process of signing contribution agreements that will award each semi-finalist a prize of $25,000 to further develop their prototypes. In addition, Health Canada has established a Canadian Pain Task Force that will collaborate with key stakeholders across Canada to identify and disseminate information about best practices in the prevention and management of chronic pain. Most recently, Budget 2019 proposed to provide additional funding of $30.5 million over 5 years, starting in 2019–20, with $1 million in ongoing funding, for targeted measures to address persistent gaps in harm reduction and treatment, specifically to support efforts to expand access to a safe supply of prescription opioids, as well as access to opioid overdose response training and to Naloxone in underserved communities.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.