Despite spending $15 million a year to provide drug prevention sessions in Quebec high schools, nearly one in eight schools do not offer the service, according to a recent report, despite the dangers associated with the opioid crisis affecting the entire country.
I can confirm that some schools do not have preventive services and that is not an acceptable situation.
The appearance of the report was announced in an interview with Radio-Canada Vincent Marcoux, general director of the Quebec Association of Dependence Intervention Centers (AQCID).
l'AQCID Nevertheless, it welcomes the deployment of the program, which was developed in 2019 and which raised awareness among 364,000 secondary school students during nearly 16,000 workshops. Special speakers travel one to five times a week to meet with students and discuss the subject to build relationships of trust with them.
Vincent Marcoux is the Director General of Quebec Addiction Intervention Centres.
Photo: Radio-Canada
At the end of a three-week survey with various stakeholders in Quebec, TheAQCID It identified 93 schools that did not provide this preventive service. By extrapolating from schools that did not respond to the survey, the association calculated that 20% of institutions did not participate in the program.
Within our organization, we have had no denials from schools, rather discomfort or questions regarding the intervention. It is still a very taboo topic.
Marie-Ave Duquette, medical coordinator for Cumulus, which operates in approximately 70 settings on the island of Montreal, underscores.
There are still people who think it's like talking about consumption [y] adhered to.
However, this type of training saves lives. Talk to 16-year-old Thomas Roberge, who attends a private college in Granby. In late January, he had the good idea to pick up a free naloxone kit at the pharmacy “just in case” before going to a party.
Naloxone is usually injected into the thigh or shoulder and can also be given through clothing.
Photo: St John Ambulance
It was a good thing for him, because on his way to get some fresh air, he found a young woman in her twenties in rather poor condition, who soon went into cardio-respiratory arrest. Thanks to naloxone, he was able to revive her.
The doctors told her they were almost 100% sure I saved her life and that she would not have made it without the naloxone.
Three key players are at the center of the project
Currently, the Ministry of Health and Social Services provides budgets to various regional public health authorities, who choose the agencies responsible for prevention. The latter contacts schools to propose interventions. So there is no standard model that applies everywhere in the program.
Report by Elise Allard
Education Minister Bernard Trinville, called on Sunday to comment on the lack of the program in many Quebec secondary schools, insisted the scope of his action was limited because the initiative does not fall under his ministry. However, he realized that drugs and drug use were social problems and invited the three actors at the center of the project to work together.
Schools where the scheme has not been implemented are invited to contact [directions de la] Regional Public Health […] I call to see how this program can be implemented in their school [directions de la] Health [publique] Regional authorities should do the same.
As for organizations that take the message to young people, Mr. Trineville understood their frustration and encouraged them to keep pushing. I have no problem with that
he added.
Behind the scenes of the opioid crisis
Each region and each school environment draws on what it needs without following the full scale of the intervention
, condemns Vincent Marcoux. According to him, to maximize the potential benefits of this type of intervention, especially in the context of the opioid crisis spreading across the country and representing a leading cause of death, the prevention continuum offered to schools must be consistent and mandatory. Adolescents in Western Canada.
Photos of the victims are placed next to each other during a tribute in Vancouver on August 31, 2023, International Overdose Awareness Day.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Ben Nelms
More drugs contain fentanyl or opioids, and teens are less likely to know the dangers and, more importantly, less likely to seek help if they have a problem.
says Eva Moore, an adolescent pediatrician at BC Children's Hospital.
Ms Moore says she sees young people between the ages of 12 and 16 dying from drug overdoses. Last August, the Canadian Academy of Pediatrics reported that one in 10 pediatricians had treated an adolescent who had suffered a serious or life-threatening overdose in the past 24 months. And that's without counting those treated by other healthcare professionals.
and cannabis money SQDC?
In his statement, theAQCID Also indicates financial problems. For example, the $15 million annual envelope was indexed for inflation, but only two regions would have benefited the companies on the ground.
Mr. Marcoux addresses further A great review
For Government: Funding from the Société québécoise du cannabis [100 millions de dollars] Schools but also CEGEP and university must pay full attention to prevention. Still, 50% of this envelope goes to the Ministry of Public Safety and Justice.
With information from Elise Allard
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