Provincial Police Playing a Role in Federal Opioid Crisis Response

The OPP are taking point on a four pronged approach to combating the province’s opioid crisis. Representatives from the Provincial Police took to social media today, to detail how the OPP fit into a new federal strategic effort to address the opioid crisis.

This effort comes in the form of four pillared response:

Prevention

Preventing problematic opioid use

• Implement the Health Portfolio’s Problematic Prescription Drug Use Strategy
• Improve prescribing practices
• Better inform Canadians about the risks of opioids

Treatment

Supporting innovative approaches to treatments

• Better access for rural and remote First Nations communities
• Improve access to medication-assisted treatments for opioid use disorder
• Improve treatment options for pain management
• Share knowledge on treatments for opioid use disorder
• Increase cooperation between the criminal justice system and social services sector (like Drug Treatment Courts)

Harm reduction

Supporting a range of tools and measures for individuals and communities

• Support the establishment of supervised consumption sites
• Facilitate access to naloxone
• Ensure timely laboratory drug analysis information is shared between partners
• Support legislation to protect individuals who seek emergency assistance for overdose
• Reduce public health consequences of problematic substance use

Enforcement

Addressing illegal drug production, supply and distribution

• Continue enforcement on the importation, exportation and trafficking of illegal opioids
• Pursue legislative, regulatory, policy and programmatic changes to better control substances and equipment
• Collect, assess and share information with law enforcement agencies domestically and internationally
• Support education and training for law enforcement

This four-pillared response to opioids is one of many results to come from a Provincial Police-created Opioid Working Group, a body working with experts across the organization to implement a multi-faceted approach to the issue. “I believe no one is too far removed from the opioid crisis,” says Supt. Bryan MacKillop, Director of the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau. “We likely all know someone who is dealing with this affliction, whether we are aware of it or not. We must work together to ensure that our communities are well informed about the opioid crisis and can protect themselves and their loved ones.”