I think the difficulty is—and this is what we have found as folks across the country have put their heads together—there isn't one answer. If we don't look at it from all of the perspectives of prevention, enforcement, education, and treatment, and integrate those, we miss. If we pick one, we just don't get anywhere at all.
If you're asking me what could be done on a federal level, I think some of the things that have been highlighted are the control of access to these dangerous preparations, the resourcing of appropriate research, and the resourcing of initiatives like that of the national action council. We could somehow help to lead the way to develop a program of data collection and sharing and surveillance so we could do research, but also so we would know who the bad prescribers are and who the troublesome dispensers are, so we can pick those people out and educate them and improve their practice.
Finally, the piece that hasn't been mentioned is the need for a comprehensive pain and addiction treatment plan in first nations communities where the problem is absolutely astounding.