Narrowing the treatment gap in managing opioid use disorder

North America is in the midst of a public health crisis related to opioid use disorder and overdose. In the US, opioid overdose is the number-one cause of death from unintentional injuries, surpassing deaths related to motor vehicle injuries and exceeding the death toll seen at the peak of the HIV epidemic. Canada is second only to the United States in per-capita opioid use, and the numbers of opioid-related deaths, emergency department visits and hospital admissions are climbing. A new Canadian guideline on the management of opioid use disorder is appropriately geared toward front-line health care providers, who are vitally important to decreasing the existing gap in treatment for opioid use disorder. Pharmacotherapy is unequivocally the evidence-based first-line treatment for opioid use disorder. Here, Donroe and Tetrault discuss narrowing the treatment gap in managing opioid use disorder.