The Province has launched the Opioid Treatment Access Line to make it faster and easier for people to get life-saving medication to treat opioid-use disorder and get connected to same-day care.
“When people struggling with opioid addiction decide to reach out for help, they need access to treatment and care quickly, free from barriers,” says Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. “This new confidential access line will help people across B.C. start on a path to recovery right away. It’s part of our work to expand access to treatment and recovery so people can get the care they need, where and when they need it.”
Confidential phone-based health service
The Opioid Treatment Access Line is a provincewide telephone-based health service. People struggling with opioid addiction can call 1 833 804-8111 toll-free for immediate assistance from a dedicated team, including doctors and nurses, who can prescribe life-saving opioid agonist medications. Callers will also be directly connected to regional health-care teams for ongoing treatment and support within their community. Dedicated nurses will help make sure people are getting the longer-term care they need. The service is confidential, the treatment is covered under BC PharmaCare, and it is available seven days a week from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Dr. Andy Ryan, addiction medicine physician at St. Paul’s Hospital, and medical director of the Road to Recovery program at Providence Health Care, says: “As an addiction-medicine physician, I get frustrated by missed opportunities to provide care for someone when they are ready to ask for help. Too many times I have witnessed or heard stories of someone sent to a clinic in another town or waiting to seek care because they didn’t know where to turn at that moment. I’m pleased that this new service will change that, making evidence-based treatment and care more widely accessible to people when they need it.”
Helping those in smaller communities
It is estimated that there are at least 125,000 people living with opioid-use disorder in B.C., and approximately 24,000 people currently on opioid agonist treatment. The Opioid Treatment Access Line will help many people, especially those in smaller communities, who find it challenging to find a local clinic or prescriber.
The Opioid Treatment Access Line supports the expansion of the Road to Recovery program, which launched in St. Paul’s Hospital last September, across all regions of B.C., and serves as an immediate measure to improve access to opioid- addiction treatment. This is part of BC’s comprehensive effort to ensure individuals receive the treatment and recovery care they need, prevent overdose deaths and keep people and communities safe.
Opioid agonists can help start a path to recovery from substance use
Opioid agonist treatment uses medications such as buprenorphine/naloxone, methadone and slow-release oral morphine, prescribed by a trained doctor or nurse to prevent withdrawal symptoms and reduce the risk of overdose. Opioid agonist treatment is an evidence-based approach used widely across Canada and around the world. It is the recommended first-line treatment for people with opioid addiction and has been shown to help people stabilize their health and life, stay in treatment, stay away from toxic opioid use and start a path to recovery.
Tradesmen over-represented in overdose deaths
The toxic-drug crisis continues to devastate families across BC and North America. Men in the trades are over-represented in the number of deaths from overdose. A BC Coroner’s Report from 2022 found that of the 35% of people who were employed at the time of their death, 52% of them worked in the construction, trades or transport industry. The Province has been working with the sector to expand Tailgate Toolkit, a harm-reduction program that aims to educate employers and employees about the risks and supports available to them. The Opioid Treatment Access Line is another tool for that toolkit.
In addition, BC is supporting the Construction Industry Rehabilitation Plan with the expansion of the BuildStrong App, an app for construction workers that provides on-demand access to mental-health and addiction support, including tools and techniques for managing stress and anxiety, tips for overcoming addiction challenges, and information about treatment options.
More details about B.C.’s work to address the toxic-drug crisis and expand treatment and recovery services is available on a new website: https://gov.bc.ca/BetterCare
Quick Facts:
- B.C. now has 3,645 publicly funded substance-use treatment beds, including 659 beds opened since 2017, with more to come.
- More than 4,600 people received publicly funded live-in treatment and recovery support last year – 1,000 more than the year before.
- More than 1,500 people accessed detox beds through Vancouver Coastal Health’s Road to Recovery Access Central phone line (1 866 658-1221) between Oct. 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, with people prioritized as urgent able to access a bed within one day.
- In 2021, B.C. became the first province in Canada to train nurses to prescribe opioid agonist medications, and nearly 200 nurses in the province are already helping people access this life-saving treatment with more to come.
- The number of toxic-drug deaths in the first six months of 2024 was 9% lower compared to the same period in 2023, and the rate of death was at its lowest point in four years.
- There have been 4.8 million visits and 30,000 overdoses survived at overdose-prevention and supervised-consumption sites since 2017.
Learn More:
To learn how B.C. is building better mental-health and addiction care, visit: https://gov.bc.ca/BetterCare
To learn more about the Opioid Treatment Access Line, visit: https://HelpStartsHere.gov.bc.ca/OpioidTreatment
To learn more about the Tailgate Toolkit program for trades workers, visit: https://thetailgatetoolkit.ca
To find a treatment option that works for you, visit: https://HelpStartsHere.gov.bc.ca
To learn more about Road to Recovery’s new model of seamless addictions care, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/RecoveryGraphic.pdf
