Fentanyl Patch bill up for debate

A Private Members’ bill introduced by Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli which aims to stem the growing abuse of a popular pain medication in communities across the province will come up for Second Reading in the Ontario Legislature on Thursday.

Bill 33, the Safeguarding Our Communities Act (Fentanyl Patch for Patch Return Policy), 2014 was introduced by Fedeli in the Legislature in October last year. It would implement a fentanyl patch return policy that was pioneered in North Bay in communities across Ontario.

“We need to help them deal with what is becoming a growing concern from both a health, social, and criminal standpoint,” said Fedeli, who noted at least 15 deaths in North Bay alone have been linked to fentanyl.

The bill would give health care practitioners across Ontario greater control over fentanyl patches, which currently are being sold illicitly for large sums of money to addicts.

Since the introduction of Bill 33, several other Ontario communities have acted to curb fentanyl abuse, including Guelph, Muskoka, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, and Timmins.

“I believe the approach advocated in my bill and which has already produced positive results in North Bay is a model that will curb the dangerous trend of fentanyl abuse across Ontario, and I hope to have all-party support to move this initiative forward,” Fedeli concluded.