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Opioid misuse and addiction

The number of people receiving treatment for opioid addiction has risen sharply in recent years. Most family physicians in Ontario have recently had concerns about the opioid use of one or more of their patients. This toolkit describes what primary care providers need to know about opioid misuse and addiction, including:

  • which patients are most at risk of opioid addiction
  • how to prescribe opioids for chronic non-cancer pain and monitor patients at risk of addiction
  • how to treat chronic non-cancer pain in people who have an opioid addiction
  • how to treat opioid addiction.

The toolkit discusses prescribing opioids to treat chronic non-cancer pain in people who are at risk of addiction. However, most pain patients on opioids are not addicted and are not at high risk of addiction. For a general guide to prescribing opioids, see The 2017Canadian Guideline for Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain.

In Opioid misuse and addiction:

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