Government of Canada: Substance Use a Healthcare Issue
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/03/19
The Office of the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions is responsible for leading Canada’s national response to substance use and mental health challenges. The ministry focuses on harm reduction, treatment access, prevention, and awareness, working with provinces, territories, and community organizations to implement evidence-based policies. Key initiatives include the Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP), which has allocated over $740 million since 2017 to support 450+ community-based projects focusing on prevention, treatment, and harm reduction. The government has expanded opioid agonist therapy (OAT), streamlined regulations for methadone access, and funded safe consumption sites, which have prevented over 60,000 overdoses since 2017. The Emergency Treatment Fund 2024 ($150M) aims to help municipalities and Indigenous communities address critical needs. In 2023, the federal government committed $200 billion over ten years to healthcare, with $25 billion dedicated to mental health and substance use services. The Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS)integrates public health and safety, addressing prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, enforcement, and research. The Know More Opioids campaign has reached over 192,000 youth since 2018 through in-person and virtual sessions, with new awareness tours planned in 2025. Additionally, Health Canada has launched the Reduce Your Risks of Substance Use campaign, which includes post-secondary outreach from February to March 2025.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How does this compassionate approach differ from previous strategies to address substance use?
Office of the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions: The Government of Canada recognizes that substance use is first and foremost, a health care issue. Unlike the Harper government and Poilievre’s Conservatives, our government supports measures that divert people who use drugs away from the criminal justice system and towards appropriate health and social services, while maintaining the safety of communities.
Action has been taken to improve access to health services for people who are struggling.
- While the previous government cut Health Canada’s Drug Treatment Funding Program by two-thirds, we’ve committed over $740 million through the Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP) since 2017 to support more than 450 community-based projects including those related to treatment, such as expanding opioid agonist therapy (OAT), and prevention.
- Launching the Youth Substance Use Prevention Program and supporting seven projects in four provinces to implement it. This program is based on the Icelandic Prevention Model approach to preventing substance use among youth.
- Launched the $150 million Emergency Treatment Fund 2024, which is aimed at supporting municipalities and Indigenous communities rapidly respond to critical needs related to the overdose crisis. This builds off the one-time emergency funding of $150 million through Emergency Treatment Fund 2018 for provinces and territories to improve access to evidence-based treatment services.
- Removing certain regulatory constraints imposed on methadone so that exemptions are no longer required from Health Canada for practitioners to prescribe, administer, sell, or provide methadone to their patients. Under the previous government, these constraints were in place. There are also now additional options for those seeking treatment through the approvals of Injectable hydromorphone and injectable diacetylmorphine.
Additionally, safe consumption sites have responded to more than 60,000 overdoses since 2017. They are saving lives, helping to reduce public drug use and stopping the spread of infectious diseases. Prior to 2017, there was only one federally approved supervised consumption site in the entire country and since then, there have been up to 40 operating.
In 2023, the federal government made an investment of close to $200 billion over ten years in health care through the Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians Plan. This investment included $25 billion to support shared health priorities, including mental health and substance use, through bilateral agreements with provinces and territories. All provinces and territories have included mental health and substance use in their action plans as part of these bilateral agreements. Provinces and territories have dedicated more than a third of the funding of these bilateral agreements to improving access to mental health and substance use services.
Jacobsen: Budget 2023 allocates $144 million for the Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP). Does this link to larger federal initiatives addressing the overdose crisis?
Office of the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions: We continue to leverage tools available to address the overdose crisis. The renewed Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS) is our comprehensive and compassionate approach to tackling this tragic public health crisis. The Substance Use and Addictions Program provide funds to community and not-for-profit organizations across the country. Since 2017, it has supported more than 450 community projects.
SUAP is one part of the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy.
The Strategy works with all orders of government and stakeholders, focuses on a full spectrum of services and supports,and takes a comprehensive approach that balances public health and public safety. It is focused on four key integrated priority areas for action: prevention and education, substance use services and supports (harm reduction, treatment and recovery), evidence, and enforcement.
Jacobsen: Any final updates, e.g., regarding the Know More Opioids public awareness campaign in schools?
Office of the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions: Since 2018, the Know More Opioids awareness program has been engaging with teens and youth across Canada on the facts about the overdose crisis, fentanyl, signs of an overdose, naloxone, the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act and the impacts of stigma on people who use drugs.
Since 2018:
- We have conducted over 900 in person sessions to schools across the country
- We have conducted over 1,763 virtual sessions
- We have reached 1,312 schools
- Between April 2018 and December 2024, we engaged 192,459 teens and young adults through high school and post-secondary awareness program.
In January-March 2025, Health Canada will run two in-person tours:
- The Know More in-person tour will resume in February 2025. The tour will include 33 days in secondary schools in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI.
- Health Canada recently launched the Reduce Your Risks of Substance Use campaign in February 2025. This campaign includes a tour of campuses of post-secondary institutions across Canada from February 3rd until March 15th. The campaign, comprised of live events and student engagement, aims to increase awareness among young adults of the risks associated with substance use and polysubstance use, how to recognize substance poisoning and overdose and what to do. A digital toolkit was also developed to support the Reduce Your Risk of Substance Usecampaign and will be sent to all post-secondary institutions in Canada.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time.
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