Opioid Crisis Analysis

The article Ottawa must act quickly on opioid crisis by Tara Gomes, illustrates the catastrophe caused by the substantial amounts of opioids that are being distributed within Canada. There are various issues surrounding the opioid battle, ranging from abuse of opioids, to policies which have been implemented with the intention to resolve this crisis. Society has yet to acknowledge the outcomes from the drug opioids, as a crisis. Preventable measures could have been taken before the problem of opioids became a national disaster. Health wise, those who are the most impacted would be palliative care patients due to their need of opioids to manage pain. Consequences that have resulted from this opioid crisis essentially consists of multiple deaths …show more content…
Gomes provides statistics for the staggering amount of deaths caused by opioid overdoses. Along with, presenting insight on the provincial and federal government plans to end this crisis. There are numerous issues surrounding the opioid dilemma, ranging from the number of overdoses to debates about the high dosage opioid formulas and how palliative care patients are affected. Society has continued to turn a blind-eye to the issue, choosing to believe it is an anti-drug society (McKnight, 2016). The opioid crisis could have been prevented and should have been made a priority when data surfaced in 2013 regarding the number of deaths caused from opioids. Doctor education is just another way this crisis could have been avoided. Those impacted the greatest is palliative care patients on top of family and friends of those who have overdosed. Consequences because of the opioid crisis are being faced by the loved ones of those who passed along with the public, with the government having to spend public funding on resources to solve this problem. The opioid crisis Canada is currently struggling with can only be solved if all levels of society acknowledge this as a crisis and come together to find a national strategy to resolve this