CALGARY - If it was as simple as just quitting, most of the people Tanis Petry works with would have already done so.
Petry is part of a team that works to address their client's medical, social, mental health and addictions needs at Calgary's The Alex Community Health Centre's Complex Care Clinic (CCC).
Many of them are addicted to opioids, and in an effort to better serve these clients, the clinic in late 2017 began offering Suboxone treatment, an opioid agonist therapy meant to replace the substance someone has been using with another medication that prevents them from getting "dope sick," or experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
...
As part of its efforts to curb the deaths, the province recently accepted a recommendation from the Minister's Opioid Emergency Response Commission to fund the phased implementation of a supervised injectable opioid agonist therapy (siOAT) program in Edmonton and Calgary.
In plain language, Alberta is planning to prescribe hydromorphone in injectable form, rather than orally, which is currently available on the street or with a prescription under the brand name Dilaudid.
