Situational Assessment Report on the Drug Poisoning Crisis Now Available

In partnership with the HKLN Drug Strategy, the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit presented the Situational Assessment of the Four Pillar Approach for Addressing the Drug Poisoning Crisis report to its Board of Health last week encompassing the County of Haliburton, City of Kawartha Lakes and Northumberland County.

The drug poisoning crisis is a growing public health issue. Contributing factors include historic prescription of opioids for clinical use, illegally produced synthetic opioids, numerous contaminants that make the unregulated supply unpredictable, and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Situational Assessment of the Four Pillar Approach for Addressing the Drug Poisoning Crisis report is a collaborative effort between the HKLN Drug Strategy and the HKPR District Health Unit. The report itself provides a situational assessment of local trends in drug use and poisonings and the four pillar approach used to address the crisis in the County of Haliburton, City of Kawartha Lakes and Northumberland County. The four pillar model originated from the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy developed by Health Canada’s Four Pillar Approach and promotes a collaborative approach to reduce the harms associated with substance use. The key points of the report are grouped under these four pillars includes: Prevention and Education, Treatment, Harm Reduction and Community Safety.

“Data in the report can help inform the design of specific prevention, treatment, harm reduction and community safety interventions. Engaging people with lived and living experience in these conversations is priority number one,” said Dane Record, Chair of the HKLN Drug Strategy. Record is looking forward to the opportunities that the report presents for conversations among municipal governments, agencies and service providers, consumer advocacy groups, and the community at large about ways we can work together to tackle this growing health issue.

The report is written in three parts. Part One describes the situation through data sources to show local trends in drug use and poisonings, including practices identified through a local survey conducted from December 2023 to March 2024 with 146 respondents with lived and living experience. Part Two reviews programmatic actions by organizations working within the four pillars to address the drug poisoning crisis. Part Three identifies implications for policy and practice, and recommendations for action.

“The drug poisoning crisis is both an urban and rural crisis that exists everywhere and affects all of us,” said Dr. Natalie Bocking, Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer of the HKPR District Health Unit. “Our response needs to be collaborative; we must recognize that there is not one strategy that will solve this, and we must work together at multiple levels to address the drug crisis.”

Local data trends were presented by Vidya Sunil, Epidemiologist for the HKPR District Health Unit communities. “During the COVID-19 pandemic the trends showed an increase in opioid use from 2019 to 2021. We noted that in 2023, the rate of opioid-related emergency department visits in the health unit region was over 1.6 times that of the provincial rate. Fentanyl was present in 86.1 per cent of opioid-related deaths.

“The report describes the situation using data available through various sources, and reviews programmatic actions by organizations working within the four pillars to address the drug poisoning crisis in our communities”, said Health Promoter with HKPR District Health Unit, Kate Hall and lead author of the report. “It identifies recommendations for action in policy and practice that can help us work together and achieve better outcomes.”

The Situational Assessment of the Four Pillar Approach for Addressing the Drug Poisoning Crisis report can be used to further conversations among municipal governments, agencies and service providers, consumer advocacy groups, and the community at large about ways to collaborate to reduce drug poisonings and deaths in our communities. Data in the report can help inform the design of specific prevention, treatment, harm reduction and community safety intervention strategies.

The HKLN Drug Strategy Steering Committee and the HKPR District Health Unit will be embarking on an educational roadshow to present the findings of the report to local governments, community stakeholders and the public.