A new organization has been established to help in the fight to curb the opioid overdose crisis. The Addiction Care Clinics of B.C. (ACCBC) will represent the dozens of non-government clinics that currently provide addiction treatment in more than 30 communities throughout the province, with a strong focus on recovery.
The newly formed ACCBC has arisen as a vehicle to provide additional expertise in the fight to reduce opioid overdose deaths. Many of the clinics have been operating for decades, providing treatment to thousands of patients who are addicted to opioids. The clinics are staffed with doctors, counselors and skilled support staff. Operated without government funding and often on shoestring budgets, the clinics have an excellent track record of preventing overdose deaths amongst clients who are in active treatment. The wealth of expertise of these front-line workers can now be made available to policy makers and researchers via the ACCBC.
“It is time for the many addiction care clinics in the province to offer their expertise to the discussions on how to maximize recovery and further reverse the current opioid overdose crisis,” said Dr.Alan Brookstone, addiction doctor and spokesperson for the group. “We feel our constructive ideas can add value to current efforts.”
At a time when the numbers of overdose deaths remain at record highs and while many innovative interventions are being tried, the ongoing life-saving work in these non-government clinics seems to be overlooked. The members of ACCBC feel that more needs to be done to study the success of these clinics, to analyze their cost effectiveness and to remove barriers to access.
“Ours is a life-saving intervention that should be made more available during this crisis of overdose deaths,” explained Brookstone. “We invite research into our model which we believe has good outcomes and is very cost-effective. Governments should be looking to remove financial and other barriers. We will approach the B.C. Centre on Substance Use and the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions with ideas on how to maximize our contribution to dealing with the overdose crisis.”
