Health committee  Unfortunately, treatment on demand remains the exception to the types of substance use services that are offered. Most of the time, if people are looking to access particular detox or recovery services, there can be a considerable wait. Those delays can result in adverse harms an

Health committee  I think it's urgent. I think it can be considered as part of the urgent second-wave COVID-19 response to be looking at decriminalization as a way of addressing the contaminated drug supply that's poisoning Canadians.

Health committee  I completely agree. It's the stigma regarding addiction and the lack of acceptance of it as a medical condition that has resulted in chronic underinvestment in services for people living with addictions. All over Canada we are losing people who are very young to overdose. We nee

Health committee  Yes. We have noticed increased relapse rates. I should note that this includes people who are elderly, who are in the geriatric population. It's all ages. We are seeing increased relapse rates due to stress and isolation related to COVID, and we're seeing a downscaling of service

Health committee  Sure.

Health committee  Thank you so much for that question. It does feel as though COVID-19 has pulled back a layer of what was already not adequate within the addiction treatment system. When it comes to areas of urgent need at the intersection of COVID-19 and addiction, first we need an urgent scale

Health committee  Good morning, Chair Ron McKinnon, Vice-Chairs Luc Thériault and the Honourable Michelle Rempel Garner, and members of the Standing Committee on Health. My name is Dr. Nadia Fairbairn. I am a clinician scientist and an assistant professor in the department of medicine at the Univ