Absolutely. There are solutions that address the issues of misuse and diversion. Dr. Buckley talked about Project Lazarus. We don't necessarily need to decrease the opioid prescriptions to decrease opioid deaths.
There needs to be evidence-based research for alternative, effective, and low-cost treatments for pain. We need to accept that this is a community problem; it's not just a medical problem. We need to get people involved through education. We need strategies to take leftover medications back in drug take-back programs. That's huge. You heard about that in your last meeting. We need better national data in order to plan targeted approaches to medication misuse, and patients need timely access to care in their local communities.
These are the faces of why we do the work we do. A young man passed away from an opioid overdose in Oakville. Two months later, a friend of his passed away from opioid overdose. They had not been doing anything for quite some time, but their tolerance levels changed. They went back one time only to try what they had done before, and they no longer are with us.
We need to help these kids. They're the targets where we can make a difference, just like when we had our seat-belt rules 30 years ago. None of us wore seat belts before. We need to go back and make sure that people keep things safe. Each of you today will get a medication lock-box. It's critical. We lock medications up in a pharmacy. Then we take them home. Our Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, which CAMH will present on Wednesday, indicates that 20% of kids misuse medication drugs that were legally prescribed to their aunt, uncle, grandmother, or father. We need to make sure that those kids don't get addicted. We need to keep things safe.
I hope you'll safely store your things at home. We'll make a change. It'll take us awhile, but we can get there.