Mr. Speaker, our government is very concerned about the opioid crisis and is working hard to address this issue, as I mentioned previously.
As indicated, we concluded that the regulations that would have required tamper-resistant properties for controlled release oxycodone would not have reduced the overall harms of opioid misuse.
The problem with the regulations for controlled release oxycodone is that they would most likely create a balloon effect, where measures to control misuse of one drug would lead people to use another potentially more dangerous drug.
We are deeply concerned about the increasing rates of overdose and deaths from illegal sources of fentanyl in Canada, and we are not willing to take actions that have any possibility of making this crisis even worse and jeopardizing the safety and health of Canadians.
Instead, we have put in place a strong, comprehensive, and evidence-based strategy to address the opioid crisis from various angles, which include support for industry interested in developing tamper-resistant formulations of opioids.
The government will continue to take action to address this serious issue, and again, as I said before, we look forward to working closely with our colleagues and other stakeholders to address this extremely important issue.