Feds commit cash to help improve access to treatment for opioid addiction in B.C.
Posted September 6, 2018 9:48 am.
Last Updated September 6, 2018 4:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The federal government and the BC government have signed a deal to help people with opioid addiction get access to treatment.
Under the agreement, the federal and the provincial governments will together provide $71.7 million – $33.98 million from the feds and $37.76 million from the province – aimed at improving access to treatment to services for people who are addicted.
Federal health minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor says the funding will enhance treatment and recovery options for people in B.C.
“Treatment can be difficult,” said Petitpas Taylor. “Improving access to treatment is a key part of our government’s plan to addressing this crisis — a plan that includes harm reduction as a key pillar.”
The money is coming out of Ottawa’s Emergency Treatment Fund.
Judy Darcy, B.C.’s minister of mental health and addictions, said it will go towards several programs from culutrally appropriate treatment to understanding why people go into or leave rehab. That includes a new program called the Cascades of Care.
“We will follow a person’s full journey and experience within the healthcare system and the treatment they’ve received to understand what’s worked, what hasn’t, what are the gaps, what needs to change.”
The joint-announcement comes as politicians gather in Toronto for an Opioid Symposium.
This story was corrected to reflect the correct amounts of funding from the provincial and federal governments.
