Pubdate: Sun, 23 Oct 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Nick Eagland
Page: 3

'SUSTAINABLE' CHANGE NEEDED FOR ADDICTS

Experts call for treatment overhaul as overdose deaths in first nine
months of 2016 rise by 61 per cent

An overhaul of British Columbia's "dysfunctional" addiction-treatment
system must become top priority as drug users struggle to stay alive
through an overdose crisis, recovery experts say.

In the first nine months of 2016, 555 people died of drug overdoses in
the province, up 61 per cent over the same period last year, according
to a B.C. Coroners Service report last week. Overdoses killed 56
people in September, up from 49 in August.

The highly toxic opioid fentanyl - which dealers are cutting into
street drugs of all kinds - was detected in 61 per cent of these cases.

Marshall Smith, chair of the B.C. Recovery Council, believes the
latest statistics prove there's a critical need for more treatment
options tailored to the widely varying needs of substance users in
B.C.

"Right now in British Columbia and for the last several decades, we
haven't had an appropriate system of care designed to help people with
addiction disorders all along the spectrum," Smith said.

He believes there's a need for more treatment services specifically
for women, youth and aboriginal people and a system to help them
navigate the treatment-service options.

According to the coroner's report, 20 per cent of those who died of an
overdose were women, eight people were 18 years old or younger and
death rates per 100,000 population were similar in health regions
across the province. Fentanyl is showing up in the blood of cocaine,
amphetamine and opioid users.

But many of these drug users and their families don't know where to
turn for help, Smith said.

"They don't know who to call. They wind up getting on the computer and
Googling 'rehab help' because where do you start? And often they are
making decisions regarding the care of their loved one or their
employee based on second-hand information."

He believes reform of the addiction-treatment system needs to happen
soon, but at a pace that results in something "real, sustainable and
lasting."

He believes the government is responding appropriately to the crisis
and commended Premier Christy Clark for setting up a panel of experts
to study overdose response and for her announcement last month that
her government would spend $5 million to launch a B.C. Centre on
Substance Use to do addiction research, educational campaigns and
provide guidance to medical professionals.

Dr. Keith Ahamad, a scientist with the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS, said there's a "huge disconnect" between the taxpayer-funded
medical treatment system and the private-recovery facilities that
evolved largely from peer-support systems.

"The reality is that a lot of (private-recovery facilities) don't have
the appropriate engagement with data and research and we need to
integrate those so we make sure we're doing what's best for patients,"
he said. "It's a very complicated system that is not patient centred
in any way. It needs to change."

Ahamad laments a lack of regulation or standardization in treatment
centres across B.C. But he believes the new Centre on Substance Use,
headed by his colleague Dr. Evan Wood, will help solve this problem by
bringing public and private systems together.

He believes this will provide evidence-based treatments and
patient-centred care, so that a drug user with mental illness in
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside or a "lawyer who's using drugs and
surrounded by support systems" can both find the care they need -
immediately.

"Right now, people are waiting months for treatment and that's
completely unacceptable," Ahamad said. "The reality is that the
introduction of illicit fentanyl into the drug trade has really ...
illuminated this system that is totally dysfunctional and not able to
respond to patients' needs."

The B.C. government has pledged to open 500 new substance-use beds by
the end of 2017, bringing the provincial total to more than 1,600
beds. The Ministry of Health says it spends more than $1.42 billion
each year on mental-health and substance-use services.
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MAP posted-by: Matt