Among their many differences, Canada and the United States share a common crisis: opioid overdoses.
Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, killing more people than the AIDS epidemic at its peak. More than 42,000 Americans died of opioid-related causes in 2016, and the crisis shows no signs of receding.
Canada, too, is in the grip of an opioid overdose epidemic, but public health officials in the province of British Columbia - which is projected to account for nearly one-third of overdose deaths in the country in 2017 - are hoping to prevent a surge in deaths with a novel approach: a vending machine that distributes prescription opioids to addicts.
The B.C. Center for Disease Control (BCCDC) announced last month that it plans to install three vending machines this spring that will dispense hydromorphone pills, a powerful prescription opioid, to people with a high risk of overdose. A landmark study in 2016 found the painkiller to be an effective opioid replacement therapy, and experts say it could also reduce dependencies on contaminated street drugs cut with lethal substances such as fentanyl.
A $1 million grant from Health Canada will help to fund the project, which officials say could be expanded as early as this summer after its launch in the spring.
