Pubdate: Thu, 19 Oct 2017 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2017 Postmedia Network Contact: http://www.calgaryherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Yolande Cole Page: A9 U.S. EXPERT SAYS HARM REDUCTION NEEDED FOR OPIOIDS In more than 35 years as an emergency room physician, Dan Morhaim has learned a lot about opioids. The doctor, Maryland state legislator and faculty member at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said he has had the opportunity to talk to thousands of drug users while treating patients. "It's given me tremendous insight into what goes on and that's informed a lot of the policies that I've promoted," he said. The physician was in Calgary on Wednesday to speak about that approach as part of a University of Calgary School of Public Policy and O'Brien Institute of Public Health event. Morhaim advocates for harm reduction strategies to address what he said needs to be treated as a public-health problem. "We treat people with asthma who have relapses, I treat people with diabetes who have relapses - that's part of health care," he said in a phone interview in advance of the event. "When you look at addiction as a disease, through that lens, then you can begin to take some steps." While he said law enforcement has a role, Morhaim wants to see access to treatment 24 hours a day and 365 days a year for drug users, including opioid replacement therapy, long-term treatment services and recovery programs. "Different treatments work for different people," he noted. "So they need to be individually assessed." Another key component of harm reduction, said Morhaim, is supervised consumption facilities. It's something he has advocated for in his own state, putting forward legislation to authorize such services. It hasn't passed, but he plans to continue bringing the idea forward. He noted the John Hopkins School of Public Policy did a study of Vancouver's supervised injection facility, Insite, which found a decrease in drug use, in discarded needles and in crime, and an increase in people accessing treatment. "You have to look at what works and the data here is really clear: it doesn't work for everybody, but it works for enough people that it's worth doing - and I think that experience in Vancouver ought to inform our decisions elsewhere," he said. Alberta announced Wednesday that Health Canada has approved four locations proposed for supervised drug-consumption sites in Edmonton and another in Lethbridge. A federal decision is expected on an application for a supervised consumption site in Calgary by the end of the month. Morhaim noted that while opioid antidote naloxone "saves lives," the method requires the presence of other people when someone is using. Drug users typically take substances in small groups or by themselves, he said. "That's another reason safe-consumption facilities had zero overdose deaths," he said. "When I look at Alberta's number (of overdose deaths), you have a lot." Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 12 this year, 315 Albertans died of fentanyl-related drug overdose deaths. Morhaim said the situation here is no different from what is happening in communities across the United States. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt