Utilization of opioid agonist therapy among incarcerated persons with opioid use disorder in Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), Canada, like many areas in North America, is currently struggling with an opioid overdose crisis. Across the province, 931 unintentional overdose deaths related to illicit drugs were reported in 2016 (61.8% involving fentanyl), an increase from 531 in 2015, and 341 in 2014 (British Columbia Coroners Service, 2017a), prompting the Provincial Health Officer to declare a public health emergency in April 2016. In spite of this measure, the number of opioid overdose deaths increased another 43% in 2017 (British Columbia Coroners Service, 2017b).
Source: Drug and Alcohol Dependence - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: Full length article Source Type: research