More doctors across Canada should prescribe safer drugs to reduce overdoses: minister

Carolyn Bennett said a guidance document by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia could be very helpful in other provinces and territories.

Canada’s minister of mental health and addictions says more doctors across the country should be willing to prescribe a safer supply of drugs to reduce overdoses instead of fearing they will face barriers from their regulatory colleges.

Carolyn Bennett said a guidance document by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia could be very helpful in other provinces and territories.

“We are, I think, a bit limited at the moment, frankly, because of some of the approaches of the colleges of physicians and surgeons across the country,” Bennett told a news conference Wednesday.

“Physicians have felt that they would not be able to do this without being investigated by (their) college, unfortunately.”

The B.C. college has said physicians who prescribe pharmaceutical-grade alternatives to street drugs as part of a comprehensive treatment plan, or a stand-alone harm reduction strategy could better support patients and reduce their risk of overdose and death.

The practice is based on a policy directive developed last July by the B.C. ministries of Health and Mental Health and Addictions as part of an urgent response to the overdose crisis.

Bennett made the comments while announcing harm-reduction initiatives across Canada, including seven safer supply programs in B.C. and Ontario, involving $40 million in funding that’s already been budgeted for various programs. More than 7,500 people across the country fatally overdosed last year, she said, and it’s time that Canadians understand the role they could play in dealing with stigma related to drug use.

“From Cape Spear to Haida Gwaii, from Carcross to Windsor in southern Ontario, people are dying,” said Bennett.