An Environmental Scan of Social Work’s Regulatory Response to the Illicit Drug Overdose Crisis in Canada

All information collected had to do with naloxone. Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) advocated for a public health approach to illicit drug use that includes decriminalization (2018). At the provincial/territorial level, absence of official policies and ethical guidance to facilitate RSWs’ inclusion in this PH response. May be limited in capacity to respond.

Safe supply – CASW support. With limited roles for social workers there could be a shift from the criminalization of drugs and PWUD to the strict medicalization of drugs and PWUD. As safer supply responses are gaining traction, social work regulators have the opportunity to apply principles of determinants of health and of social justice in defining overdose response alternatives that avoid merely criminalizing or medicalizing substance use.