Health committee  You need data on deaths and data on non-fatal overdoses. The data on deaths should come from the regional coroners, who should be empowered to collect data in real time and report it in real time. You can't fix what you're not even measuring. The information on non-fatal overdose

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  Every hospital in the country could have a person who is empowered to report each week the number of drug overdoses that came to their emergency department. That would be easy. They report all kinds of other things that are far less important. It would not be hard to do.

Health committee  I agree.

Health committee  Good morning. Thanks for the opportunity to speak here today. You'll hear a bit of overlap. I guess that won't surprise you. You all know that this is a stimulant. What you might not appreciate is that, chemically, it's almost indistinguishable from the prescription drug Adderal

Health committee  It is an emergency. It was 4,000 deaths, and it's only in the last couple of years that Canada has actually tallied the deaths from opioids. Those 4,000 were from opioids alone. Opioids and other drugs usually, but.... I don't think there's merit in declaring an emergency simply

Health committee  You know the ins and outs of the law better than I do. To the extent that it would permit those sites to be more available.... I know there's opposition to them. I know that there are sometimes valid concerns, but people don't die in these places. It's simply a fact. They might c

Health committee  That's right.

Health committee  I think the answer is yes to that. I know that's particularly unpopular in some circles because it's perceived as promoting drug use, but the answer is yes. People know what they're using. There still might be people who make bad decisions and continue to use more and more and di

Health committee  I guess I would echo those comments. The nature and duration of treatment that one needs is a function of what drugs they're using and what other supports they have in their lives. I don't know that you can put one answer on it, but the way you've described it is on the short sid

Health committee  I'm nodding because I'm in complete agreement. Like fentanyl, these drugs are not very difficult to synthesize. Even if you could somehow snap your fingers and make our borders impermeable, somebody would make it here. You would see more labs in Calgary than you currently have,

Health committee  Thanks for your question. The research could be funded that gets a magic bullet to help address methamphetamine addiction, but I think billions of dollars have already been spent in the U.S. to that end, in particular, to no avail. As I said earlier on, it's quite different fro

Health committee  I guess it depends on the context. Someone who is using meth to stay awake, like a long-haul trucker, for example, could use something that's safer in the form of Adderall, for example, the drug I mentioned to you earlier. That's not an ideal solution, but it's something that's i

Health committee  I don't think it does.

Health committee  No, as I said in my comments, I think it's intensely counterproductive.