I'm not sure how many years ago—Jane may know—Portugal decriminalized the use of small amounts of all drugs. The use of drugs is a criminal activity in this country. Their overdose deaths and overdoses have plummeted so that is one strategy. We've talked a lot about opioid substitution therapy. That includes methadone, suboxone, and even heroin prescriptions so there needs to be more access to that. Most people on social assistance don't pay for that stuff as it's covered by the provincial government but many people who are working have to pay. That was in the news last week; you may not be able to manage $7 a day for your methadone.
What else? Supervised consumption sites; thank you. These are places where people can inject. People are at a higher risk of overdose when they're injecting quickly and when they're trying to hide their injection. They might be doing it outside in public, in a Tim Hortons washroom, or in an alleyway. They're going to take more risk and they're going to be more likely to overdose. A lot more education needs to be done post-treatment. Jane alluded to this earlier. When people finish addiction treatment the reality is that a number of people will relapse in the first year of their treatment. They are at a very high risk of overdose in those instances. Similarly, they're at a very high risk of overdosing coming out of jail or a hospital where they haven't used for a number of months. A lot of education needs to be done at those opportunities.