CAMH Welcomes Ontario’s $2 Million Investment in Methadone Treatment

For Immediate Release – July 26, 2007 (Toronto) – The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) welcomes today’s announcement by the Minister of Health and Long-term Care, the Hon. George Smitherman, of $2 million to improve treatment for people with opioid addictions.

$1 million of the new funding will be allocated to recruit more doctors to prescribe methadone and other treatments and to expand CAMH’s role as a provincial resource providing training and professional support for nurses, counselors and pharmacists.

“CAMH and other treatment centres offer Methadone Maintenance Treatment programs due to the success of this type of drug treatment strategy and most importantly, demand by those in need of this service,” said Judith Tompkins, Executive Vice-President of Programs and Chief of Nursing Practice and Professional Services at CAMH.

Methadone Maintenance has been shown to be an effective way to treat people who are challenged with opioid addictions. Research also tells us that it reduces the risk of overdose as well as the risk of HIV and other infection. It also reduces drug-offence arrests by helping people reduce their use of heroin or other opioids.

“CAMH and other mental health and addiction service providers have been calling for increased funding of addiction services,” said Tompkins. “This announcement marks a very positive and encouraging step forward on the part of the province in supporting our work to treat people challenged with addictions and to enable them to stabilize their lives and to become better integrated into the community.”

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The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is one of the leading addiction and mental health organizations in North America and Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital. CAMH is a Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, and is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. CAMH combines clinical care, research, policy, education and health promotion to transform the lives of people impacted by mental health and addiction issues.

For more information contact Michael Torres, CAMH Media Relations, at (416) 595-6015