Territorial officials offer mixed reactions to report on cost of substance use in Canada

A new report that finds Canada's territories spend the most per capita on costs related to substance use is getting a mixed reception in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Opal McInnis, an addictions treatment specialist with the Nunavut government, called the report "very informative."

"I think it's going to be a very important report in terms of helping us inform our own policy decisions," she said.

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The report found Nunavut spent around $96 million on substance-abuse related costs, while the Northwest Territories spent about $102 million and the Yukon spent $71 million.

Those costs included lost productivity, health care, and costs associated with the criminal justice system.

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The study was done in collaboration between the University of Victoria's Institute for Substance Use Research and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. It was funded by Health Canada.

McInnis said the study can help officials determine how to allocate resources to prevention and treatment for substance abuse.

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"We can be creative in terms of using the resources we have," she said. "Building capabilities amongst our workforce to better address these issues in the community and support people with substance use problems."

To do that, McInnis said the Nunavut government is providing addictions training to all health-care staff across the territory. The training has already occurred in Clyde River and Iqaluit.

N.W.T. officials question report's methodology

Officials in the N.W.T. were not surprised by the report's findings but they were a bit skeptical of its methodology.

"They tried to use data where there were actual hospitalizations — indicators that were directly attributable to alcohol, cannabis or tobacco," said Kami Kandola, the territory's chief public health officer. "In other cases, they didn't have that data so they attributed a certain per cent of diseases to substance use, so it's a mixed methodology."

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Kandola said N.W.T. has some of the highest rates of tobacco use and alcohol abuse, which drives up costs related to substance abuse, but she said the report doesn't take into consideration the high cost of providing those services in the territories.

She said if the report's authors had factored that in, the relative difference in costs would be less wide.

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Sara Chorostkowski is the manager of health and addictions for the N.W.T.'s Department of Health.

She said the report won't necessarily help shape the territory's policies. She pointed to the range of services already being offered including counselling, on-the-land healing programs, facility-based addictions treatment in the South and Yellowknife's new sobering centre.

"It's a little too soon to say if it's [reducing costs] but that's our hope," she said. "When it comes down to it, if there is somebody struggling with addictions and they want help for that, there are options available for them."

With files from Jamie Malbeuf and Randi Beers