Socio-economic Characteristics of Drug Abusers in Toronto and Vancouver
The above statistics represent drug abuse within Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa. The use of drugs for medicinal and non-medicinal is represented for the 12 months of 2010. Vancouver is the worst hit by drug abuse, whereas Toronto is the least affected as compared to the three cities. From the statistics, prescription drug use is 20%, 16%, and 23% in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa, respectively. The drug abuse among the cities is attributed to homelessness, divorce, unemployment, and many factors. Besides, it covers both genders, races, ethnicities, and various age groups (Palepu et al. 2013).
Socio-economic Characteristics of Drug Abusers in Toronto and Vancouver
Toronto and Vancouver are both affected negatively by the high number of homelessness (Palepu et al., 2013). Lack of houses bars medical professionals from attending to their needs that increase their chances of developing mental problems (Palepu et al., 2013).
The individuals affected in the cities differ in age, sex, employment characteristics, and race. Besides, there are differences in marital status, salary levels, duration of homelessness, and education. The city of Vancouver was the hardest hit by individuals with chronic conditions due to the influx of other hard drugs. Apart from opioids, Vancouver has a high prevalence of heroin, cocaine, and amphetamines (Palepu et al., 2013).
According to Richardson, Wood, and Kerr (2013), socially and economically less privileged individuals are highly likely to engage in self-induced opioids injection. Lack of gainful employment and attention pushes such individuals into drugs for self-fulfilment. Additionally, lack of attachments as envisaged in the social contract theory leads to disorientation and inclination to drug abuse (Richardson, Wood, & Kerr, 2013).
Lack of employment makes families strain by engaging in hard labour that cannot adequately cater for the basic needs in families. Most such families find themselves unable to afford quality food, clothing, shelter, education, and health. It leads to frustrations and conflict between spouses that affect their children negatively. As a result, the disintegration of the affected families becomes imminent. Eventually, it pushes the parents to engage in drug abuse as a means of escaping from their miseries. Such kinds of cases are associated with a self-induced opioid that is more common in both cities (Richardson, Wood, & Kerr, 2013) Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
External environmental influences, such as the presence of gainful employment, give individuals the freedom of purchasing and consuming opioids and other drugs. It explains why the application of usable injectable devices by individuals has no bearing on whether one is employed or not as long as their availability is guaranteed in the market (Richardson, Wood, & Kerr, 2013).
Recommendations for tackling drug abuse in Toronto and Ontario
All prescriptions that are made by doctors in both Toronto and Vancouver should be done per federal legislation in non-cancer cases. As such, all provinces should be barred from using oxycodone formulas in the production and manufacturing of drugs (Fischer, 2015).
It is possible through the elimination of dangerous opioids compounds in the manufacturing process. Apart from that, labelling of the drugs enables citizens to know their contents and ingredients that were used during the manufacturing process. Moreover, all formulas should be tamper-proof to avoid contamination and illegal application of the opioid ingredients (Fischer, 2015).
Due to income inequality, the provision of medical care by the government goes a long way in covering individuals that cannot afford to pay for addiction treatment. Government intervention would make it possible for the homeless and less privileged individuals to receive medical attention (Socias et al., 2018). Apart from that, the establishment of controls concerning the delivery of the drugs by pharmacies significantly aids in curbing the menace. It bars unscrupulous pharmacists and intermediaries from supplying uncertified drugs to the hospitals and the locals, thus preventing addiction (Socias et al., 2018).
Most of the addictions usually arise from the continued application of drugs after prescription by qualified physicians (Gomes et al., 2017). It is, therefore, vital for physicians to monitor the use of opioids and other compounds regularly (Gomes et al., 2017). Through this, they get the chance to adjust the quantity and timing of dosage based on the response of the patients. The same applies to the combination of drugs to use on each patient. Implementation of the strategy enables the physicians to prevent the rampant rise in cases of addiction and death among the populace (Gomes et al., 2017).
More resources should be set aside by the government to resettle homeless individuals. It can be done by building homes for impoverished families and sheltering the children that lack parents. The provision of houses would reduce stigmatization and exclusion from access to healthcare benefits (Palepu et al., 2013). Through this, a significant reduction in addiction, mental disorders, and death can be forestalled. Apart from that, it would give doctors and other medical staff a chance to interact and track the response of addicts from medications and other therapies (Palepu et al., 2013). Implementation of e-prescriptions would enhance the capacity of doctors and other policymakers to know the location of drugs and their users. Besides, it will aid in preventing the drugs from falling on the wrong hands rather than on the deserving patients and hospital administrators.
The nation and its media should objectively report on the severity of drug menace in the cities and the entire country. Subjective and selective airing of the problem makes the fight against drug abuse more difficult. It bars policymakers, healthcare providers, and other bodies to narrow down on the specific causes, prevalence, and impact of drug abuse. By doing so, the fight against drug abuse would be won (Palepu et al., 2013).
Thorough assessments on patients must be done before the administration of opioids. Similarly, administration and prescription of opioids should be done by certified physicians (Lail et al., 2014). At no time should a client request to be given the medicine. Additionally, Interns must not be allowed to prescribe the dose to the inpatients as practised in Toronto after discharge (Lail et al., 2014).
The cities should come up with strategies of educating the citizens on the different kinds of drugs and their effects on the body. Emphasis should be placed on strict adherence to prescriptions such as methadone to enable them to recover from the addiction. Besides, the procedure, individuals should be encouraged to abstain from abusing the drugs. Eventually, it would enable the cities to reverse the trend (Fischer, Pang, & Tyndall, 2019).
Social care providers come in handy as far as counselling of the emotionally deprived persons is concerned. Partnering together between the state and federal government through social care providers is a suitable mechanism for assisting the separated, divorced, physically abused, or homeless persons to rediscover themselves and desist from engaging in self-induced or prescribed drugs (Kidd, Gaetz, & O`Grady, 2015). Furthermore, social care providers assist in reconciling families that may have broken up due to differences to reunite to safeguard the future of the community (Kidd, Gaetz, & O`Grady, 2015).
Every state should centralize its source of drugs. As such, the supply of narcotics must come from the central government to the primary pharmacies in every state (Fischer, 2015). Through this, unscrupulous traders who sell drugs to innocent civilians would be stopped. Apart from that, it would make it easier for the persons in charge to monitor the flow of drugs, their content, and composition, before being availed to hospitals and private pharmacies. Similar tracking should be done on drugs prescribed by doctors in hospitals as well as the ones sold by pharmacists (Fischer, 2015).
The substitution of medical drugs with ones that have a lower capacity of addictions leads to a decline in the number of addicts (Socias et al., 2018). For instance, the provision of buprenorphine and naloxone to patients instead of the first opioid drugs assist in lowering the level of addictions (Socias et al., 2018). Apart from that, it is paramount for health practitioners to liaise with other members of society to ensure that there is continuity in the provision of anti-addictive drugs (Socias et al., 2018).
The community should be informed of the importance of living and caring for one another regardless of social differences. Sensitization should aim at informing citizens regarding opioids and other drugs, and the consequences of abusing them. Apart from that, the negative stigmatization of the drug addicts should be stopped to enable them to come forward and get assistance (Cheng et al., 2018).
All legislation made should be aimed at fostering patient safety. Hence, all unused prescriptions must be kept away from the public. The same applies to the diversion of the drugs from their designated destinations by unscrupulous traders. Besides, all doctors should be made to file all opioids prescriptions that have been administered to patients for accountability. The strategy would bar doctors from discretionary and carelessly prescribing the drugs to undeserving patients. Moreover, more emphasis on the prescriptions should be placed on cancer patients rather than non-cancer patients (Fischer 2015).
Conclusion
The current study demonstrates that the drug crisis in Vancouver, Canada, is worse than the drug crisis in Toronto, Ontario. This has been demonstrated from the analysis of the demographic characteristics such as gender, age, employment status, marital status, race, education, and homelessness of the addicts.
A higher percentage of individuals get addicted to opioids in Vancouver than in Toronto.
Most of the individuals that consume opioid drugs usually advance to other drugs, such as cocaine, cannabis Sativa, heroin, and many more. It arises from the initial exposure that they are given by doctors. It is therefore vital for thorough assessments to be done for every inpatient before prescription of the drugs. The prescriptions must be given by experienced physicians. The inexperienced doctors should only be allowed to do so under the supervision of their seniors
Homeless people are the worst hit by the drug problem because of the absence of primary care providers, inability to monitor their progress, exclusion, and stigma that is attached to addiction. In Vancouver, the government should liaise with landlords to come up with affordable rental payments to tenants. Through this, the rampant evictions from houses that lead to homelessness will be tackled. It will go a long way into barring persons from being exposed to street drugs, and lack of other basic needs that drives them to depression. Moreover, the state, in conjunction with health practitioners, should provide primary care services to drug addicts.
The tendency of drug users to inject themselves compounds the matter since it exposes them to HIV/AIDs, hepatitis C, and other deadly diseases. It is, therefore, paramount for policymakers to come up with strategies for addressing the problem, such as scrutinizing the flow of drugs, educating the citizens, regulation manufacturing companies, and discouraging opioid prescriptions by doctors to reverse the trend.
Tests should be conducted for street persons who inject themselves to determine whether they are infected with HIV/AIDS. An ascertainment of this would enable them to be provided with anti-retroviral and receive counselling.Early interventions on AIDS would enable the cities to prevent its transmission.
More freedom should be given to the media to air the challenges encountered by the nation. Through this, it would assist policymakers to be aware of the real issues bedevilling the nation and how to handle them. Much emphasis should be placed in Vancouver since it has a higher number of homeless persons, and loopholes on drug disposal.