In April 2019, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (“the Committee”) travelled across the country to witness first hand the impacts of the rise of problematic methamphetamine use, which is rapidly becoming a public health crisis in some communities. During its cross-country fact-finding mission and its six hearings in Ottawa, the Committee heard from many stakeholders, including frontline service providers, health care providers, representatives of law enforcement agencies, government officials, members of Indigenous organizations, peer support workers, and individuals with lived experience with methamphetamine use and their families. These stakeholders explained to the Committee that methamphetamine use poses a unique set of challenges because of its low cost, long-lasting effects, high addiction potential, and the psychic instability it can cause among some users, both in the short and long term. There is often no place for individuals to go to obtain treatment for methamphetamine addiction or to mitigate the effects of the drug, so they end up in overwhelmed emergency departments or in police holding cells.

Witnesses explained to the Committee that this situation is unacceptable. They explained that problematic substance use and addiction is a health condition that arises from a complex set of social and economic factors that include adverse childhood experiences, trauma, mental health conditions, poverty and homelessness.  Problematic substance use and addiction therefore needs a better and more comprehensive response from all levels of government, health care providers and society as a whole.

Witnesses identified ways the federal government in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments could further address this issue in the context of the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy, in areas such as public education and awareness; building resiliency in children, youth, parents and communities; enhanced access to innovative harm reduction measures; investments in withdrawal management and residential treatment services and psychiatric care;  better access to housing and social supports that meet the needs of individuals experiencing problematic substance use; and, a re-evaluation of the criminalization of simple possession of illicit psychoactive substances and the expansion of drug treatment courts. The Committee agrees with the proposals made by witnesses. It presents 23 recommendations in this report intended to provide guidance to the federal government on how it can move forward in these different areas and address the grave harm caused by problematic methamphetamine use to individuals, communities and Canadian society.