I think the data or facts about this crisis show that right now it is the extremely toxic illegal supply that is causing the most harm. I think that's one factor everyone should bear in mind. Some of the application of the range of measures is because of that.
Right now I work very closely with my colleagues, the other chief medical officers of health. We stood up a special advisory committee, as we did with the COVID-19 pandemic, to try to collectively provide support in whatever way we can to address this crisis.
It's complicated, but what we saw through data was that this crisis evolved over time. When we started in 2016, fentanyl had appeared but hadn't swamped the whole supply. Right now, 84% of all apparent opioid-related deaths are a result of this extreme toxicity. That is not necessarily the case in another country like Portugal, which, of course, has many great practices we can examine.
We worked very closely to get the data. People talked about the data. You've seen some of the B.C. data and the B.C. coroner's data. You can certainly follow up with her, but the people who are dying from this crisis are not dying from a prescribed drug. They found this as they did their examinations. The vast majority are from toxic opioid drugs.
I think, as the minister said, that there is no simple solution to this very complex issue. It's a whole-of-society and whole-of-government response across all pillars, from prevention to recovery with, of course, treatment and harm reduction.