Why has the Opioid Crisis Remained Unchanged in Canada? The Limits of Bio-Scientific Based Policy Approaches

Abstract

ABSTRACT Canada’s latest drug policy, the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS) with its emphasis on an evidence-based public health approach to substance misuse, has remained unidimensional in response to the current opioid crisis. Its coexistence with a prohibitionist drug policy—the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act contravenes the evidence frame of drug addiction as a health issue rather than a crime. We argue that CDSS’s focus on individualizing, bio-scientifically driven tools involving naloxone, opioid agonist therapy, supervised consumption sites, and surveillance of legal opioid prescribing do not fully explain why the opioid crisis has remained intact, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations by not including social factors as a key component of the strategy. By examining contradictions inherent in these bio-scientific evidenced interventions, we call for a more holistic drug policy framework that considers broader structural conditions including a greater emphasis on engaging with those misusing substances to address underlying issues that affect them.