Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
To investigate the association of British Columbia’s Safer Opioid Supply policy with opioid prescribing and opioid-related health outcomes.
Findings/Key points
The Safer Opioid Supply policy was associated with statistically significant increases in rates of opioid prescriptions and claimants. There was no significant change in prescribers. However, the opioid-related poisoning hospitalization rate increased by 3.2 per 100 000 population after policy implementation. There were no statistically significant changes in deaths from apparent opioid toxicity.
Design/methods
This cohort study used quarterly province-level data from quarter 1 of 2016 (January 1, 2016) to quarter 1 of 2022 (March 31, 2022), from British Columbia, where the Safer Opioid Supply policy was implemented, and Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where the policy was not implemented (comparison provinces).
