Health committee  In regard to why there's been a change in recent years, again, I think it goes back to availability and to a changing culture in medicine. It used to be that opiates were reserved for end of life care, acute management of injury or post-operative care. However, in that timeframe,

Health committee  With regard to the investigations, in Ontario I'm blessed because our legislation actually gives us the authority to enlist the assistance of police in our investigation, which we do. In the circumstance that you're describing, where we would enter a scene and there would be pres

Health committee  That is correct. I think the RCMP experience in some jurisdictions would be very different.

Health committee  What I said earlier—I think what I said and maybe I didn't say clearly—was that as people age, the source of their drug is more likely to be their prescription. Younger people are more likely to get their drugs from the street, and as you get older, you're more likely to get it f

Health committee  The prescriber does bear some responsibility. Dr. Buckley addressed that in your last meeting, that the college of dentistry is addressing that issue within their profession as well. Similarly among physicians, when I presided at that inquest that was referenced earlier, it's an

Health committee  No, I don't.

Health committee  I don't think it would add anything to our ability to investigate, to obtain that information, or to share that information over what we have. What it would do is it would make it very difficult for us to share information with other jurisdictions because of the addition of that

Health committee  No.

Health committee  That's a very difficult question to answer. If you're asking me as a physician.... I think what you're getting at is whether the physician has a responsibility if someone dies as a result of a medication prescribed by that physician. Is that your question?

Health committee  I'll speak from my experience when I was practising, especially during the 1980s and 1990s when drugs like OxyContin were on the rise. We, being physicians, obviously don't get our information from TV commercials. We get it from advertisements in medical journals and also from

Health committee  Yes, I think the shortcomings are twofold. First of all, there's inadequate research evidence about the effectiveness of treatment of non-cancer pain, especially with opiates. That's an area that needs to be looked at in a more in-depth and scientific way. Second, you are abso

Health committee  Yes. The number of deaths due to opioid toxicity exceeded the number of deaths of drivers in motor vehicle collisions in Ontario. It continues to do so significantly now.

Health committee  The first year we broke the 300 mark was 2008. We approached about 350 in 2008. The number of deaths of drivers in the province was well below the 300 mark, but since then the number of deaths due to opioids has increased. As I said, it's in excess of 500 now.

Health committee  I'm not aware of a national model. I think most jurisdictions have difficulties with piecemeal-type collection systems. Within the country, I think Alberta and Nova Scotia lead us. Ontario is well behind, but has made an initiative and is starting to collect that information. The

Health committee  Correct.