VANCOUVER—A study by the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS is calling for more doctors across Canada to be formally trained to diagnose and treat patients addicted to drugs.
Dr. Evan Wood, co-author of the study published in the current edition of the Journal of Addiction Medicine, said there’s a greater awareness that for many people, addiction is a chronic disease that must be treated with evidence-based medicine, the same as heart disease or any other condition.
“We’re just sort of learning and trying to unpack the mystery that some people will go into long-term recovery and never go back, whereas for other people it ends up being a fatal disease and they can never put it down. In many cases it’s because people haven’t accessed good treatment.”
Statistics from the BC Coroners Service show there were 371 drug overdose deaths between January and June of this year, about 60 percent of which were tied to fentanyl, a powerful painkiller.
Wood said the prevalence of addiction means treatment must be integrated in the primary care setting where family doctors are trained to help patients who may need further care from specially trained physicians.
