Today, the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) releases its submission to the parliamentary study on the toxic opioid crisis.
Canada’s response to the crisis is held back by two connected problems. Mental and substance use health services are fragmented and hard to afford, and people can still face criminal penalties for personal possession. CASW, representing more than 20,500 members across Canada, urges the federal government to address both through a coordinated, health-based response grounded in parity, decriminalization, harm reduction, treatment and community support.
CASW recommends that the federal government:
- Decriminalize possession of small quantities of psychoactive substances for personal use, in collaboration with provinces, territories, Indigenous governments and people with lived and living experience, while pairing reform with sustained investment in harm reduction, treatment and community supports and granting amnesty for previous convictions.
- Establish Mental and Substance Use Health Parity through legislation, stable targeted funding and accountability through a dedicated federal office responsible for Mental and Substance Use Health.
Neither reform is enough on its own. Accessible services cannot fully overcome the harms of criminalization, and removing criminal penalties does not, by itself, create timely treatment, counselling, harm reduction or community support.
