Pubdate: Wed, 12 Jul 2017
Source: Metro (Ottawa, CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Metro
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Ottawa
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4032
Author: Kieran Delamont
Page: 3

NALOXONE TOUGH TO GET IN GATINEAU

For Ottawa residents, getting a naloxone kit to help protect against
overdose deaths is as easy as finding a pharmacy and going through a
30-minute information session.

Across the river in Gatineau, however, the situation is much
different.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services in Quebec does not provide
funding for naloxone kits like its Ontario counterpart. Some municipal
public health units, like Sante Montreal, provide kits, but only
within that specific city.

For residents of cities like Gatineau, where neither the province nor
the municipality provides coverage for naloxone, drug users may be
left in the lurch.

Catherine Hacksel, who works with the Drug Users Advocacy League in
Ottawa, said she has heard complaints from Gatineau residents who are
prevented from getting a naloxone kit due to costs. It may force harm
reduction workers to get creative.

Hacksel suggested that residents on the Ontario side of the river
could potentially provide provincially covered naloxone kits to those
on the other side of the river who are unable to purchase it themselves.

A pharmacist at Pharmacie Brisson in the Byward Market said that since
the program is administered through the Ontario health plan, a Quebec
resident looking to access a naloxone kit from an Ontario pharmacy
would have to purchase it out of pocket.

The cost of an intramuscular kit (the type typically available at
Ontario pharmacies) costs around $70, while the nasal spray version
can cost as much as $150.
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MAP posted-by: Matt