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Addressing substance use requires an all-of-society approach

August 1, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, has released his 2023 Annual Report addressing substance abuse and harm.

The report examines the challenges resulting from substance use and the rise in substance-related harms while making evidence-based recommendations for an all-of-society approach to these pressing issues.

The report looks at the use of mood-altering substances in Ontario, with a focus on cannabis, alcohol, opioids, tobacco and vaping products that contain nicotine.

Data show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario saw disturbing trends in substance use and harms, including dramatic increases in opioid-related deaths.

More use of vaping products containing nicotine amongst people who had not smoked commercial tobacco was reported. There were more adults using cannabis and subsequently more cannabis-related emergency department visits. There has been a significant increase in alcohol toxicity deaths and a growing number of youth in Grades 7 to 12 who reported using alcohol, cannabis, and vaping products more frequently.

Although the rate of cigarette smoking is declining, it is concerning that vaping has increased among youth and people who have not previously used tobacco products. Meanwhile, rates of alcohol, cannabis and opioid-related harms are also rising in Simcoe Muskoka. On average, 25 suspected overdose emergency department visits occur in the region every week.

In 2023, 144 people in Simcoe Muskoka died from a suspected opioid-related poisoning. Most of those people were between 25 to 44 years old. So far in 2024 (up to July 18), 98 people lost their lives to a suspected drug-related death in the region.

Although regulated substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis are more predictable than unregulated drugs like illicit opioids, their use still can lead to many hospitalizations and deaths.

More people die from alcohol-related causes than opioids, and more deaths continue to be attributed to tobacco use than from all other substances combined. Between 2014 and 2018, there were an average of 211 alcohol-related deaths each year among people aged 15 and older in Simcoe Muskoka.

Smoking-related health conditions caused an estimated 861 deaths, 3,516 hospitalizations and 7,058 emergency room visits annually in the region among adults aged 35 years and older.

To address the complex range of upstream and downstream factors that contribute to substance use and its harms, a balanced approach is required.

Dr. Moore identifies the need to involve communities, people with lived experience of substance use, all levels of government, Indigenous governments and agencies, and the health care, public health and social service sectors while using a range of thoughtful, evidence-based strategies to combat the problem. 

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