Plan to monitor prescriptions won't lower overdoses, harm-reduction workers say
Province says program will 'identify potential misuse or abuse' of prescription drugs
Health-care providers will now have access to a new prescription-monitoring program to help fight drug abuse, but some experts say it won't help fight the problem.
"It's a punch in the gut," said Julie Dingwell, executive director of Avenue B Harm Reduction in Saint John.
"People aren't overdosing and dying when they are using prescription drugs, because they know what they are using."
Dingwell said that more resources should be spent on identifying street drugs.
"We just need to make things better and easier, instead of making things harder for people that are already so marginalized and having such a hard time with life," she said.
The program, called MaveRX, tracks the prescription and dispensing of drugs in the hopes of minimizing the risk of harm to patients and assist health-care providers in their decisions.
In 2016, the provincial government announced its work on the second phase of the program, which was met with similar criticism.
Health Minister Bruce Fitch announced Tuesday that $1 million has been allocated for a new version of the program.
"Providers across the province will have access to up-to-date prescription information in a timely manner and seamless manner, enabling them to identify potential misuse or abuse," Fitch said.
"It allows providers to view a patient holistically, not just through the lens of monitoring drugs and related conditions."
Sherry Wilson, the minister responsible for addictions and mental health services, said it will help streamline processes and address the larger issue of overdoses in the province.
"In our view, the tool helps create efficiencies across the system and promotes earlier identification of potential issues in over prescribing or medication misuse," Wilson said.
Dr. Matthew Moore, a Fredericton dentist at the news conference, has been using the program for nine months now, and said it has helped him significantly.
"I will say that my experience using the new prescription-monitoring program has been very positive and has added a great resource for me to use regularly in my dental practice."
He said that prior to the program, he would rely on patients to provide a list of their medications, or he would need to contact their pharmacy to fax a list of the medications.
But with the program, the process is more streamlined, he said.
"So there's definitely an aspect of convenience that this has provided us in the dental practice as well," said Moore.
Fitch said 40 health-care providers have said they are willing to incorporate the monitoring program into their practice.
'This is just not a solution anymore'
Debby Warren, the executive director of Ensemble, a harm-reduction program in the greater Moncton area, said the program will be of limited use.
"Helping people manage their prescribing is still a good thing … but if their goal is to reduce overdose deaths, this is not the way to do it."
For 2023, Public Health reported 72 apparent opioid toxicity deaths, more than half of them related to fentanyl.
Of the 22 opioid-related deaths that occurred in the second quarter of 2023, five per cent were from prescribed opioids, and all other cases involved illicit or unknown sources of opioids, according to a government of New Brunswick opioid surveillance report.
Dingwell said that when the prescription monitoring program was initially announced in 2016, over-prescription was an issue, but things have changed.
"In 2016, there was a problem with opiates on the street," said Dingwell. "But now there isn't. You know, nowadays it's poison drugs on the street like fentanyl. Testing for that is what we need to help people survive.
"Since it took them so long to act, things have changed since 2016. This is just not a solution anymore."
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