Pubdate: Fri, 30 Sep 2016
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Andrea Woo
Page: S1

B.C. INVESTS IN ADDICTIONS PROGRAM

A $5-million investment from the province will help formalize and
expand the mandate of an addiction treatment research and training
program led by one of B.C.'s top public health researchers.

Premier Christy Clark announced the new funding earlier this week as
part of a total $10 million commitment to tackle the province's
overdose crisis. Half will go to establishing the B.C. Centre on
Substance Use, which has operated on a smaller scale for about a year
as the Network for Excellence in Substance Dependence and Related Harms.

Evan Wood - medical director for addiction services at Vancouver
Coastal Health and Providence Health Care, co-director of the Urban
Health Research Initiative and a UBC professor - spearheaded the
network and will serve as BCCSU's interim director.

"He has been a leader, a fighter and a visionary on behalf of people
who need help," Ms. Clark said of Dr. Wood in a speech to the Union of
B.C. Municipalities on Wednesday.

The remaining $5-million will help fund existing initiatives, such as
expanding supervised consumption services, fentanyl awareness forums
and training police officers to administer naloxone, a drug that
reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. A joint task force of
health and police officials struck in July is expected to identify
other priority areas.

The BCCSU will comprise a new governance structure that includes
representation from all health authorities, First Nations and people
who use drugs.

One initiative already being developed by the BCCSU is a provincial
guideline for the treatment of opioid addiction. This is expected to
include details such as evidence-based approaches to detoxification,
recovery services and the transition between methadone and suboxone.

An internal committee has reviewed the guideline, which is now out for
peer review by international experts.

"B.C., like other areas in the world, hasn't traditionally had
standards and guidelines and well-defined best practices for the
treatment of different addictive disorders," Dr. Wood said in an
interview on Thursday. "That has coincided with huge increases in our
knowledge, in terms of the prevention and treatment of addiction. So,
the knowledge, in terms of addiction, has gone way ahead of what the
health-care system is delivering."

The centre will look to standardize best practices such as the recent
move by Vancouver Coastal Health to prescribe suboxone as a first-line
treatment for opioid addiction, as it has a better safety profile than
methadone, which has long been the traditional treatment. BCCSU
officials are also planning regional visits in the fall as part of
their efforts to scale up opioid addiction care throughout the province.

"We're really trying to break down the silos between people that have
been working in the area of harm reduction and public health and
people who have been working in recovery," Dr. Wood said. "We're
trying to create a system that can help people stay alive, but also be
supportive of engaging in evidence-based treatment with a view toward
a recovery-oriented system of care."

Provincial Health Officer Perry Kendall, who leads the task force on
overdose prevention with director of police services Clayton Pecknold,
noted that B.C. has significant expertise in alcohol addiction, mental
health, epidemiology and various harm-reduction measures.
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