More join call for Ford government to roll out coordinated approach to addiction crisis [Video]

The Ford government is facing another call to create a centralized, cross-ministry strategy to respond to the province’s opioid crisis, as an unusual group of stakeholders come together behind a fresh bid.

A new group, featuring health workers, first responders, labour figures and a pharmaceutical company, is behind the latest request to the province to work on an opioid treatment plan, which they hope would see a multi-ministry taskforce convened to coordinate a plan.

The group, which calls itself an Alliance for Advancing Recovery, has produced a brief report asking the government to make four changes to help with opioid addiction.

The request is: to create an emergency government task force; to connect people to opioid recovery programs; to overhaul the funding structure for opioid addiction treatment; and to give pharmacists a greater role in opioid addiction treatments.

“The crisis of substance abuse, opioid overdoses, and a growing epidemic of addiction …