Opioid agonist treatment

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) provides opiate agonist treatment (OAT) to patients with an opioid use disorder (OUD). CSC introduced methadone over 20 years ago, and now offers suboxone (buprenorphine-naloxone), and sublocade (injectable buprenorphine).

Since December 2016, at the outset of the opioid overdose crisis, CSC has considerably increased the number of patients on OAT. CSC has continued to address opioid use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic from its beginning in March 2020.

Waitlists for access to opiate agonist treatment in federal institutions

CSC has been working to reduce wait times for offenders who wish to participate in OAT. The data show a point-in-time snapshot of the number of individuals, by institution, on OAT and the number of individuals on the wait list.

Guidance for opiate agonist treatment

In 2019, CSC developed a guidance document for the delivery of OAT to ensure consistent, standardized and effective treatment for patients across all sites and regions within CSC. Updates to the guidance are ongoing as appropriate, in partnership with public health and addictions experts, and will continue to be available on the CSC website.

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