Health committee  Absolutely.

Health committee  What I would say is what we've heard from experts for many years. There has to be a coordination of care within communities. The communities have to play a critical role in this because that's where the problem is happening. It's different in different communities. In western Canada, there are opioids.

Health committee  That's correct. It's with different actions, but most importantly it's within allied health and social services that seek to tackle the social determinants of health and the needs of individuals, to be able to attend to other elements that are causing them to seek opioids for both trauma and pain reduction.

Health committee  Harm reduction is one of the pillars. I would say it's not more important than treatment; it's one of them.

Health committee  I'm sorry. When you say “early response to safer supply”.... I'm not sure I understand the question.

Health committee  We have funded an arms-length study, through the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse, on safe supply programs in 11 sites across the country. The early research results coming out suggest that for highly marginalized clients—those who have limited access to health services—safe supply is helpful and effective in reducing cravings, time on the streets and deaths.

Health committee  I think it's important to recognize that harm reduction is one of a spectrum of approaches that have been scientifically proven to be critical in tackling the toxic drug crisis. You've heard this morning about a number of different approaches to harm reduction, of which prescribing practices, including safe supply, are one.