Opioid poisonings: shortfalls in treatment and new threats

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On this episode of the CMAJ Podcast, Dr. Catherine Varner, deputy editor of CMAJ, sits in for Dr. Blair Bigham and joins Dr. Mojola Omole to explore two articles published in the journal that highlight troubling findings concerning the treatment of opioid use disorder.

They begin with a study that revealed significant gaps in treatment for opioid overdose patients, where only 5.5% received opioid agonist therapy within a week of their hospital visit. This comes five years after the release of guidelines for opioid use disorder management in Canada, which recommended starting opioid agonist therapy, specifically Suboxone, in patients with opioid use disorder. One of the paper’s co-authors, Dr. Jessica Kent-Rice, a PGY5 resident in emergency medicine and toxicology fellow at the University of Toronto, dissects the complexities of treating opioid use disorder in the emergency department and makes a passionate plea for physicians to increase their prescriptions of these life-saving therapies.
Transitioning to the second article, the hosts examine the presence of xylazine, a veterinary sedative, in the illicit opioid supply. Dubbed the "zombie drug" due to its effects on people's skin and prolonged effects during overdose, xylazine is raising alarm bells among emergency physicians. However, the article's co-author, Dr. Peter Wu, an internist and clinical pharmacology and toxicology physician at the University Health Network in Toronto, advocates for a balanced response. He cautions against excessive concern, noting that treatment continues to revolve around providing supportive care.

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