Prescriptions for opioids continue to be given at a higher rate in Windsor, Chatham, and Sarnia than anywhere else in Ontario.
The Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) again tops all 14 LHINs when it comes to opioid prescriptions last year but the numbers are slightly down from those reported for the area in 2017. According to the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network Ontario Prescription Opioid Tool, almost 15 per cent of people in the Windsor, Chatham, and Sarnia areas were prescribed opiods for pain and other ailments in 2018. That's 96,500 out of the 652,000 living in the LHIN region. The provincial average last year was 11 per cent.
In 2017, Health Quality Ontario reported 18 per cent of the population captured by the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network were prescribed opioids, which was also the highest among the 14 LHIN’s in Ontario and above the provincial average of 14 per cent.
The Prescription Opioid Tool uses data from the Narcotics Monitoring System (NMS), which captures all opioid prescriptions dispensed in retail pharmacies across Ontario.
The Ontario Drug Policy Research Network said the rate of opioid-related deaths in Ontario has increased by almost 285 per cent over the past 25 years, highlighting safety concerns around pills commonly prescribed for the treatment of pain.
