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Legal Response in Canada to the Opioid Crisis.

Document Cited in Related
Date01 July 2019
AuthorSchmidt, Ryley

Over the past few years, there has been a profound increase in the number of deaths associated with problematic opioid use in Canada. From the beginning of 2016 to mid-2018, there have been over 10,300 opioid-related deaths. And according to Statistics Canada, the national life expectancy at birth did not increase from 2016 to 2017 for either males or females. This is the first plateau in over four decades, and the government largely attributes the opioid crisis. Although this phenomenon is concentrated in Western Canada, with British Columbia declaring a health emergency over the matter, problematic opioid use and deaths resulting from such use is a nation-wide problem.

The background behind this current crisis is a complex, multi-faceted topic. However, one significant contributor to the alarming increase of opioid-related overdoses is illegally produced fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, which are highly toxic and mixed into other illegal drugs--often unknowingly to would-be purchasers. (Government of Canada, "Government of Canada Actions on Opioids: 2016 and 2017".)

In 2016, in an effort to better combat the opioid crisis, the Government of Canada replaced the National Anti-Drug Strategy. Its approach to problematic opioid use relied heavily on...

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