Canada's Health Minister moves on safe prescribing practices for drugs prone to abuse

Canada’s Minister of Health, Rona Ambrose, has issued a national Call for Proposals to improve the prescribing practices for prescription drugs that have a high risk of abuse or addiction.

The country’s regulator, Health Canada, will devote C$3.6 million ($3.3 million) to support the development of evidence-based practices for appropriate prescribing of the most commonly abused classes of prescription drugs: opioids, stimulants, sedatives and tranquillizers.

The Call for Proposals is aimed at projects that will improve prescribing practices and the educational needs of healthcare practitioners. It also focuses on projects that will develop new approaches, training and tools to improve these prescribing practices. This builds on actions already taken by the government to address the important issue of prescription drug abuse.