St. Joseph’s Manager of Addiction Services, Debbie Bang, weighs in on new opioid addiction research
A new McMaster University Study highlights the changing demographic of people with opioid addictions, but this does not surprise experts in the field.
The results, published in the journal Biology of Sex Differences on Monday, show 52 per cent of women cited doctor-prescribed painkillers such as OxyContin and codeine as their first experience with opioid drugs — compared to 38 per cent of men.
The research also reported that patients being treated for opioid addictions are older than in previous studies conducted in the 1990s (38 compared to 25 years old), and reported being introduced to drugs later in life (at age 25 versus 21).
Debbie Bang, Manager of Addiction Services at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, believes that studies like these will help battle the stigma surrounding mental health. In an interview with the Hamilton Spectator Debbie said, "I think the reality is we all know somebody who has a substance use issue. The more we're able to, not normalize it but at least talk about it, the more likely that person can get some help.”
Canada consumes more opioid painkillers per capita than any other country, and studies like these may help uncover some of the reasons why.
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