Ontario creates 'emergency task force' on opioid crisis, but doesn't declare an emergency

An official public health emergency is intended for short-term emergencies, not a "chronic" one, such as the opioid challenge, said Health Minister Eric Hoskins.

Thestar.com
Oct. 4, 2017
By Rob Ferguson

Ontario is creating an "emergency task force" of front-line workers to advise on next steps in fighting the opioid overdose crisis, Health Minister Eric Hoskins said after quietly visiting the Moss Park overdose prevention site with Premier Kathleen Wynne.

"It was clearly a moving experience for both of us," Hoskins told reporters of the two-hour Tuesday evening tour that included talks with drug users and "courageous" harm-reduction workers.

"They're literally saving lives every day," the health minister, a physician, said at a news conference Wednesday.

Hoskins revealed plans for "robust and targeted" public education materials on the dangers of opioids for distribution in schools, campuses, coffee shops and night clubs as well as pamphlets to be handed out at pharmacies for people picking up opioid painkiller prescriptions.

It's not just people with hard-core addictions that need to know the dangers, he added.

"Whether it's a 'weekend warrior' taking ecstasy or cocaine that's tainted with fentanyl or ... a long-time drug user, the risks are inherent and the same."

"It's not often an easy conversation to have, but we all have a role to play in talking to our loved ones, our friends, our patients and our clients," Hoskins said.

"We have to do it in every home."

Officials said the educational materials, for which Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod urged speedier action on Tuesday, are still in development.

MacLeod said the task force, which she called for last winter, and educational materials "could have been quicker, but that's not the point right now."

"People are dying on the streets of Ontario . . . . We're going to see, hopefully, real action."

The informal Moss Park site, which consists of tents staffed by volunteer nurses and others, represents an "effective and necessary" resource for drug users, Hoskins said

"They have found an entry point into the health-care system ... which makes them feel safe ... not just feel safe, but be safe."

The task force will report directly to Hoskins with help from the ministry's emergency operations centre and include front-line workers, drug users, their families, municipal representatives and health-care groups.

"Their voices are absolutely integral to our government's response," said Hoskins, who pledged to "receive and act on their absolute best advice" to improve services with additional investments.

Hoskins announced an additional $222 million in August to fight the opioid crisis over the next three years as the crisis continues. Emergency department visits for overdoses soared 76 per cent last spring compared to the same period a year earlier.

Despite establishing the task force, the government did not declare the opioid trouble an official public health emergency under provincial legislation. Hoskins said that law is intended for short-term emergencies, not a "chronic" one such as opioids.

In 2016, opioid deaths rose 19 per cent to 865 and front-line workers have warned the toll could be higher this year unless more urgent action is taken.

MacLeod, who has a 12-year-old daughter, said parents and teens need to know that even a cheap pill taken at a party could contain enough fentanyl to cause an overdose or kill.

"It could be one dose. You don't have to be an addict."

She teared up describing four high school students she met with earlier this year in Ottawa, where she represents the suburban riding of Nepean-Carleton.

"One of the girls told me 'I started using drugs when I was 10 years old.' She progressively moved into dangerous opioids and fentanyl. She told me that she had overdosed several times," MacLeod said.

"When you get to know the faces of these kids in Ottawa, coming from good families and have the whole world in front of them, you can't help but be moved by that and be changed by that."