What We Are Learning

Prescription drug misuse is a complex issue that can affect anyone and any community. From the very beginning, the partners in the CoOPDM knew that better information was required.

Commissioning a Rapid Assessment Protocol study by the University of Alberta was a critical first step toward better understanding the scope and nature of prescription drug misuse in Alberta. While the report was insightful and helped build our knowledge and guide our work, more research and data gathering must happen at national, provincial and local levels.

To learn more about the issue and to explore possible solutions, the CoOPDM worked closely with two different Alberta communities.

Long before meeting with CoOPDM representatives, Blood Tribe community leaders, elders and members had acknowledged prescription drug misuse as a serious issue in their community and actively taken steps to address the problem. Working with this First Nations community in southern Alberta, we learned more about improving communications and information sharing between different organizations and community stakeholders.

Meeting with leaders from the inner city community of Boyle McCauley in Edmonton, Alberta, and focus groups from different stakeholder groups in the community, made it clear to us that everyone – physicians, pharmacists, police officers, treatment providers, government, people who misuse, plus their family and friends – plays a role in contributing to and addressing prescription drug misuse. Our work in the Boyle McCauley community taught us that this is not just an inner city problem and that every organization and stakeholder must make changes internally and in collaboration with others to positively address the issue.

The CoOPDM Symposium on Prescription Drug Misuse was a one-day event where various community, professional and industry leaders shared information and their experiences. Inspired by the ideas and volume of information the participants provided, the CoOPDM asked an outside researcher to synthesize all of the comments and feedback provided at the Symposium into a summary of what may be necessary going forward. From Exploration to Direction is a clear, concise summary report that reflects and respects what we heard at the Symposium.  As a result, the Coalition developed Our Response to this feedback and the future steps we will be taking.

Our learning continues. Find out about further updates on what we have learned and our recommendations by signing up for our RSS where you will receive notice of new information right to your email inbox.