About the conference

April 8, 2022
Designed for anyone involved in the care and support of people who use opioids, the conference provided the opportunity to learn about and discuss topics related to opioid use practices, policies, treatments and harm reduction. Health care professionals, people with lived and living experience, family members, researchers, policymakers and educators engaged in a broad range of topics including transitions in care, lessons from COVID-19 and other major disruptions, the drug poisoning crisis, integration of care, safer supply initiatives, stigma and opioid use lessons from other countries around opioid use. The conference also provided a networking opportunity with others in the field of opioid use and treatment.

Short biographies of our presenters are available.
   

Presentations

• Welcome, Introductions and Panel: Opiates to Advocacy: A panel with people with lived and living expertise
  Welcome and Introductions: Dr. Sanjeev Socklingham, VP of Education, CAMH; Dr. Leslie Buckley, Addictions Chief, CAMH; Dr. Abimanyu Sud; Karan Cheema.
  Panel members: Ashley Smoke, Alexandra de Kiewitt, Michael Nurse.
• Keynote Address: The Customer is Always Wrong: Medical models for people with addictions
  Abhimanyu Sud, Jason Mercredi
• Patterns of Medication and Health Care Use Among People who Died of an Opioid-Related Toxicity During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Ontario
  Alexxa Abi-Jaoude, Jes Besharah, Tara Gomes
• Beyond Stigma: The unseen stigma of opioid use disorder in care and how we can fix it
  Andrew Johnson, Kirsten Dixon, Sean LeBlanc
• Implementing the Victoria SAFER Initiative
  Corey Ranger, Karan Cheema
• Methadone in the Time of Fentanyl: It’s not just about the dose
  Andrew McLeod, Jennifer Wyman, Karan Cheema
• Making my Clinic a Better Place
  Alexander Caudarella, Karan Cheema
• Lessons from Abroad: Opioid Use Care in France and Australia (panel)
  Julie Dupouy, Kellia Chiu, Lara Nicon, Nicholas Clark
• Key Findings from the Preliminary Evaluation of the Safer Opioid Supply Program at the London Intercommunity Health
  Abhimanyu Sud, Gillian Kolla
• Zooming in to Capture the Big Picture in Transitions of Care
  Amy Yang, Narges Beyraghi, Teresa Vandepost, Tianna Costa
• Improving Access to OUD Treatment in Community Withdrawal Management Services: A Highlight of META:PHI’s WMS Recommendations and Manual
  Karan Cheema, Katie Dunham
• Far From a “White Problem:” Addressing the Surging Overdose Crisis as a Racial Justice Issue
  Abhimanyu Sud, Joseph Friedman
• The Role of Treatment in Addressing the Opioid Crisis: an effective yet overlooked part of the continuum of care
  Farihah Ali, Peter Selby, Lesley Buckley, Sean LeBlanc, Matthew Bonn
• Structural Violence and Overdose Deaths: Building anti-oppressive clinical practices to support people who use drugs
  Gillian Kolla, Nanky Rai

Opioid Agonist Therapy: A Prescriber’s Guide to Treatment

Health care providers play a key role in addressing Canada’s opioid use crisis. Opioid Agonist Therapy: A Prescriber’s Guide to Treatment is a comprehensive, practical resource that supports the work of physicians and nurse practitioners who prescribe medication to treat opioid use disorder. It provides the latest guidance for using OAT medications—methadone, buprenorphine, slow-release oral morphine and injectable diacetylmorphine and hydromorphone—to meet the varying needs of people with opioid use disorder. Learn more about the book.

Canadian Opioid Use Disorder Guideline

Canada is in the midst of an opioid crisis, making it important to disseminate standardized approaches and evidence-based recommendations for managing opioid use disorder. Opioid Agonist Therapy: A Synthesis of Canadian Guidelines for Treating Opioid Use Disorder is a national clinical guideline that harmonizes existing guidelines, evidence-based practices and expert opinions into one document, with the aim of providing consistent and high-quality care to people with opioid use disorder.