My name is Nokuzola, but you can call me Zola. I'm a body—a biological process—but I very much belong to social systems. Frankly, my mom might have given me a pep talk before I got here.
In 2017, nearly 4,000 people died from opioid-related causes in Canada. Over the past five years, one in eight Canadians—that's 3.5 million people—has reported having a close friend or a family member who is dependent on opioids.
Opioids are a classification of drugs that, when consumed, activate the reward centres in our brain, which in turn floods our brain with dopamine, which causes feelings of euphoria. We can definitely see that although there may be an aspect of individual agency, this is very much a biological process.
There are two streams that contribute to the opioid-related mortality in Canada: the prescription drug stream and the illegal drug stream. Thirteen per cent of women used prescription opioids in the past year. Among women, the greatest risk for opioid addiction is receiving a prescription for opioid meds in the doctor's office. This is due to many reasons. Women tend to frequent the doctor's office more. They tend to have undealt-with trauma and violence and as a result self-medicate, and they have differing chronic pain experiences.
Though Canada has implemented warning stickers on some opioid labels, as well as information sheets to be given along with prescriptions, there is a relationship between social isolation and addiction. If opioid addiction starts in the doctor's office, specifically for women, so should social support. We need to look into social prescription programs to accompany opioid prescription and employ doctors to listen to women in the doctor's office.
Thank you.