11 July 2018 - The federal government is stepping up its regulatory scrutiny of opioid manufacturers and signalling that it will abandon its traditional co-operative approach to addressing any misleading promotional practices in Canada.

As part of a series of new measures, the government says it is creating a compliance and enforcement team to monitor opioid manufacturers, enforce the rules against improper drug promotion and take action where necessary, including recommending criminal charges.

Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor says the industry’s marketing can “unduly influence” doctors, leading to the overprescribing of opioids. The acknowledgment comes as a national epidemic of opioid overdoses worsens. Nearly 4,000 Canadians died of opioid-related overdoses in 2017, up 34% from the previous year.

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