Thank you so much for that question.
It does feel as though COVID-19 has pulled back a layer of what was already not adequate within the addiction treatment system. When it comes to areas of urgent need at the intersection of COVID-19 and addiction, first we need an urgent scale-up of service access to evidence-based services for addiction. That includes harm-reduction services, like supervised consumption sites and naloxone. That also includes detox and recovery beds. I've had numerous clients who want to access detox who relapsed during COVID-19, and those services are all scaled down because of COVID-19 precautions. Scaling up all services that are needed for addiction treatment would be first.
Second, we need an expansion of access to pharmaceutical alternatives to the drug supply. Fentanyl is not going away. The contaminated drug supply has only gotten worse with COVID-19 and this is not going to miraculously resolve itself. We really need to be able to offer people who want to prevent overdose and fatalities for themselves, and the impacts on their families and communities, urgent access to these medications.
Third—