Opioid prescriptions on the rise in Ontario

May 17, 2017 | News

By: Adam Bernards

More people are being prescribed opioids in Ontario, says a new report from Health Quality Ontario.

The report, released earlier today, shows Ontario residents filled nearly 450,000 more prescriptions for Opioids in 2015-16 than in 2013-14. It also says that stronger drugs, like hydromorphone, are being prescribed more often than in previous years.

Awareness of the danger of opioid drugs has been rising recently. Despite this, and an effort from doctors in Ontario to prescribe these drugs less frequently, there has been a rise of opioid prescriptions being given out.

The region of Chatham-Kent has one of the highest rates of opioid prescriptions being filled in the province, second only to the Northeast region, which includes Sudbury and Timmins.

Joe Faas, a city councillor and member of the health board in Chatham-Kent, acknowledges this is an issue in the region. Faas has not yet been able to read the report but spoke to the high number of these prescriptions being filled in the district.

“If we knew the reasoning behind it, we would be able to address it better,” he said.

These charts breakdown the rise in opioid prescriptions in 2015-16 from 2013-14.