Written by Khadija Farooq
Times are tough. As COVID-19 continues to take the world by a storm, claiming lives young and old, nations all over the globe are taking measures to tame the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases. With jobs lost, plans cancelled, and schools shut down, it is apparent that the coronavirus has had enormous ramifications.
During these difficult times, studies report that trends in opioid-related deaths have only increased with 1,018 opioid-related deaths recorded in Canada in just the first three months of 2020 and 2426 deaths cited to have occured in Ontario over the entire year, a 60% increase from the year before (The Ontraio Drug Policy Research et al, 2020; Richmond, 2021).
Many of these deaths were accidental and this trend is more apparent among people who are using drugs alone, outdoors, and in hotel/motel sites during the pandemic, potentially as a result of social-distancing guidelines which reduces access to safer areas for drug use and support systems that might otherwise be able to prevent accidental deaths (The Ontraio Drug Policy Research et al, 2020). The demographics predominantly affected is the male population, especially those with high material deprivation (The Ontraio Drug Policy Research et al, 2020). In other words, socioeconomic status is once again a risk factor for early mortality rates.
This issue of unrestricted drug supply and high drug mortality rates is not a new topic and has been a stigmatized one for quite some time. Often treated as an ethical issue, rather than a health one, we have failed and are failing to address it effectively and yet many lives are at stake.
Policies need to be set in place to better support those affected by the overdose crisis and they need to be set soon. A report presented by Public Health Ontario and its partners outlines some recommendations they believe are critical in addressing the crisis including harm reduction services, low-barrier agonist treatments, safer drug supplies, and the introduction of these services in hotels where people stay during the pandemic (The Ontraio Drug Policy Research et al, 2020).
Having lived in a community where drug abuse and activity is quite high especially with the youth, I find that these recommendations are a great start but the execution of them is what matters more. Not to mention, these recommendations are a downstream intervention of drug abuse - an intervention put in place when the initial harm is already done. Preventing people from exposure to drugs in the first place through a risk factor approach emphasised on awareness, building positive social norms and social cohesion within communities, and supporting individuals of low socioeconomic status with material deprivation, along with some level of downstream interventions mentioned in the earlier paragraph, may prove to be a more effective strategy.
I should also mention that what may work for one community may not work for another. Community specific prevention approaches are gaining more attention in the field of public health and focus on studying what is happening within specific communities and cultivating the prevention approach based on the unique situation of communities (National Research Council (US) Committee on Substance Abuse Prevention Research, 1993).
If you are someone reading this article and find this topic to be interesting, you might like the field of public health. Public health considers population health with a focus on epidemiological research, policy setting and recommendations, and disease prevention.
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