Correctional Service Canada expands take-home naloxone kit program for inmates
More federal inmates in Canada are being given access to free take-home naloxone kits when they are released back into the community.
Correctional Service Canada said the initiative started in British Columbia back in November 2016 at the Fraser Valley Institution For Women in the wake of the opioid overdose crisis, attributed largely to the proliferation of fentanyl.
Since then, the department has been expanding the program country-wide, with an order request listed on the federal government's procurement website for 4,950 more kits to be supplied over the next three years.
The first-time program is a positive move, according to Saskatoon regional health additions consultant and physician Dr. Peter Butt, who explained that once released, inmates face a high risk of overdosing.
"When they come out of a treatment centre or when they come out of a jail after a period of incarceration they've lost their tolerance and if they should relapse and use, they're at high risk of an overdose and potentially death."
Curbing overdoses
The take-home naloxone program is aimed at inmates already taking opioid substitution therapy or have a documented history of opioid abuse or overdosing, Correctional Service Canada spokesperson Lori Halfper wrote in an email to CBC.
However, she added that any inmate can be trained on how to identify an overdose and administer naloxone.
As of April 2017, the department said 35 inmates in Saskatchewan have enrolled in opioid substitution therapy. The Regional Psychiatric Centre, Saskatchewan Penitentiary and the Willow Cree Healing Centre are the only federally-run institutions in the province.
The kits are made available to inmates once they are discharged along with their personal items. Halfper said if a kit is used, that person is expected to report to their provincial health authority to receive a replacement.
The kits themselves are distributed to regional pharmacies, which institutions can access as needed.
According to Correctional Service Canada, a take-home kit will contain the following:
- Two vials of naloxone
- Two one-time use retractable safety syringes
- A mask
- Gloves
- Alcohol swabs
- Instructions on how to administer naloxone
Butt believes that besides distributing the kits to release inmates, they should also be given to the people around them in case of an overdose.
Difficult transition
Whether someone was being treated for addictions in a jail, prison or medical institution, the main issue remains the transition back into community.
"In those controlled environments, people may do quite well," said Butt. "The question is, what supports are available to them when they transition out into the community where they're going to be confronted with all of the triggers that were there before?"
Butt wants to see a more complete network for supports for inmates, including access to counselling and either therapeutic or supportive housing.
The number of take-home naloxone kits supplied to regional pharmacies:
- Atlantic: 150
- Quebec: 375
- Ontario: 415
- Prairies: 475
- Pacific: 235
Sask. corrections also makes naloxone available
In the past year-and-a-half, naloxone has become more widely available in provinces across Canada, including Saskatchewan.
According to the chief coroner's office, at least 51 people died of an opioid overdose in 2016. Fentanyl deaths in Saskatchewan are decreasing, with six in 2016 compared to 22 in 2015.
Butt said the province's correctional services have also developed a program that sees free naloxone kits given to people once discharged.
He said those who serve time in the province's jails are at a high risk of overdosing for many of the same reasons as federal inmates, perhaps even more so, because the province won't start an inmate on a drug treatment program unlike CSC institutions.
