From prescriptions to prevention: Managing Canada's opioid addiction

Canada has an opioid problem and it’s more widespread than fentanyl on our streets: We are becoming increasingly dependent on doctor-prescribed opioids. Drs. Kate Smolina and Kim Rutherford explain why and how to kick our prescription opioid habit. Kate Smolina is an expert advisor with EvidenceNetwork.ca. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia. She currently works as the Director of the BC Observatory for Population & Public Health at the BC Centre for Disease Control. Kim Rutherford is a family physician at Spectrum Health, Vancouver and a clinical instructor at the Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia. She also works with Vancouver Coastal Health as an outreach physician in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. Interview by Neeta Das McMurtry