From a prevention perspective, unfortunately the science doesn't point a clear path forward in terms of discussing with youth in high schools. Those types of interventions have traditionally been shown to be ineffective. But from a prevention perspective, certainly a national approach to prevent the unsafe prescribing of opioids is clearly needed, and something that this committee can push for in terms of a monitoring system to ensure that prescriptions are safe.
In terms of treatment, we need accessible treatment. We are just spending so much money in terms of downstream consequences of addiction, so absolutely we need that, and we need public health approaches too, as was alluded to by Mr. Lévesque. For many people—and some I've described as very traumatized, or with hypoxic brain injuries or fetal alcohol syndrome—even if the door to treatment were open, they may not be motivated to go there.
We have prisons, and I agree that prisons are oftentimes a chance for people to turn their lives around, but in far too many cases, at great taxpayer expense, people come out of prison only to relapse and go immediately back to substance use because there's no treatment in prison. So we need a comprehensive approach.
I think we've focused way too much energy on treating this as a criminal justice issue, and we've spent lots of money there. I would argue that the war on drugs approach has led to ever more potent drugs like fentanyl, and it needs to be looked at as part of the problem.