A 48-year-old man presented to his primary care clinic, requesting treatment for severe opioid use disorder (as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition).
He reported using intravenous (IV) heroin for the past 20 years and was currently injecting one-quarter of a gram daily. His lifetime overdose history was unknown, but the patient reported 9 overdoses in the few months preceding presentation to the clinic.
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It is important to note that, realistically, not all primary care clinics or community pharmacies are positioned to have staff adequately trained to provide injectable opioid agonist therapy, but the existence of a collection of community clinics and pharmacies with this skill set would allow for the referral of appropriate patients within a community setting to receive injectable opioid agonist therapy. Specific details regarding the different models of administration of injectable opioid agonist therapy and required training can be found in the BC Centre on Substance Use’s guidance document on injectable opioid agonist therapy.
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