HESA Committee Report

Supplementary Opinion of the New Democratic Party of Canada

Libby Davies, Vancouver East; Dany Morin, Chicoutimi-Le Fjord; and Isabelle Morin; Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine.

The Federal Role in Addressing Prescription Drug Abuse in Canada

The New Democrat Members of the Standing Committee on Health generally support the recommendations in the final report on The Federal Role in Addressing Prescription Drug Abuse in Canada. However, we believe the recommendations do not reflect the depth of ideas shared by witnesses who testified before the Committee—particularly witnesses who recommended that harm reduction approaches and safety measures that may aid Canadians dealing with prescription drug abuse and save lives. Witnesses also stressed the need to focus on the social determinants of health for First Nations communities and that programs dealing with prescription drug abuse in these communities must be implemented in accordance with the values, attitudes, and aspirations of the First Nations peoples. 

NDP Recommendations:

Better Oversight

1. Health Canada consider amending its regulatory framework in order to require that all prescription drugs with addiction potential have tamper resistant formulations in order to receive approval under the Food and Drugs Act and that it monitor the ongoing effectiveness of tamper-resistant formulations.
2. Health Canada immediately undertake a review of all product monographs, labels, and advertising materials for prescription drugs; including opioids, stimulants, tranquilizers and sedatives, to determine whether they accurately reflect current data regarding their risks and abuse potential.
3. Health Canada encourage regulatory bodies to adopt the Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain as a standard of care, for which there may be special exceptions, against which they evaluate the prescribing practices of health care practitioners.

Effective Use of the National Anti-Drug Strategy

4. The federal government provide funds through the National Anti-Drug Strategy to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse to support the implementation of the pan-Canadian strategy entitled First Do No Harm: Responding to Canada’s Prescription Drug Crisis.
5. The federal government allocate funding in the National Anti-Drug Strategy to support the development of national evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the prescribing of other drugs with addiction potential, including benzodiazepines and stimulants such as Ritalin.

Need for a pan-Canadian monitoring system

6. Health Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information work with stakeholders to develop national standards for data collection for prescription drug monitoring systems across the country.
7. The federal government work with stakeholders to develop a pan-Canadian, inter-operable prescription drug surveillance and monitoring system to monitor and prevent the misuse, abuse, diversion, and harms of prescription drugs.
8. That Health Canada work with stakeholders to develop a national monitoring system to track the extent and typology of overdoses in Canada.

Social Determinants of Health and Community Interventions

9. Health Canada recognize the importance of the social determinants of health and harm reduction as key elements of community-based prevention and treatment services.
10. Health Canada remove barriers to accessing Suboxone through the Non-Insured Health Benefits program, including the requirement that it be prescribed by a health care practitioners licensed to prescribe methadone.
11. Health Canada direct funding in the National Anti-Drug Strategy to support the provision of community-based prevention and treatment services that are culturally based and that include access to Suboxone, an opioid replacement therapy.
12. That the request of the Assembly of First Nations for a Joint Review of the Non-Insured Health Benefits program be forwarded to the Minister of Health for immediate action.

We believe that prescription drug abuse is a crisis within our health care system that must be addressed. The New Democratic Party, in accordance with the testimony heard from witnesses at the Standing Committee on Health, urges the federal government to take leadership on this issue, to ensure Health Canada fulfills its responsibilities as Canada’s drug regulator and fifth largest health provider; and to work with the provinces and territories to prevent, treat, and reduce the harms associated with prescription drug abuse.