Task force created to steer opioid response
Top doctor to run group, which is expected to start work in December
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A task force headed by the territory's top doctor has been created to develop a plan to deal with illicit opioid use and over-prescriptions.
Opioids, like heroin, fentanyl and morphine, induce a sense of euphoria while also reducing pain. Over-prescription of painkillers has been linked to the growth in popularity of illegal fentanyl, which has had deadly consequences in Western Canada.
Medical fentanyl can be used to treat severe pain in patients and is about 100 times more powerful than morphine. Specs the size of a couple grains of sand can be enough to cause an overdose.
Five people died with fentanyl in their systems in the territory between 2009 and 2015. Just this past Friday, Chief Public Health Office Dr. Andre Corriveau issued a public advisory after Stanton Territorial Hospital received eight fentanyl overdoses in two days.
Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy said Corriveau will lead a group formed as the country and territory grapple with the toll of fentanyl.
"One of the key items will be to develop and implement a new public health and education initiative enhancing awareness of the dangers of illicit street fentanyl," Abernethy said Nov. 21.
The announcement comes after the minister attended a conference in Ottawa on the issue of opioid abuse.
Further information about the task force, such as timelines, is expected to be available later.
It is expected to include representatives from the Department of Justice, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority, RCMP, the coroner's office, NWT Pharmaceutical Association and a member of the public.
"They really need to meet and work out what direction they want to take," Abernethy said.
NWT Chief Coroner Cathy Menard said she'll be taking part.
"A collaboration is an important (piece) of prevention of death investigations and the coroner service is going to be participating in this important task force," Menard said.
Menard and Corriveau held a joint news conference this summer to release a review of overdose and hospitalization data that recommended further steps to monitor trends around deaths. That could include a territorial poison data system and a prescription drug monitoring program. The program would provide an electronic link between doctors and pharmacists to see what patients are already prescribed, track prescription trends and possibly highlight abuse.
The Canadian Pharmacists Association has called for fully integrated electronic drug monitoring systems across the country.
The Northwest Territories has stalled implementation of such a system citing a high cost, though has never released an estimate for such a system.
Abernethy said such a system is still being considered.
The three territories had the fourth highest number of hospitalizations per 100,000 people for opioid poisoning in 2014-15, a report recently prepared by the Canadian Institute for Health Information and Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse indicates. The territories were lumped together for the report because of low numbers.
The 16.7 hospitalizations was above the Canadian average of 13.4.
The data reviewed for the report indicates someone admitted to hospital for opioid poisoning resulted in an average stay of eight days, longer than the average stay for those admitted for a heart attack, pneumonia or hip replacement surgery.
