Facilitating medical withdrawal from opiates in rural Ontario

Facilitating medical withdrawal from opiates in rural Ontario.

CONTEXT The abuse of oxycodone in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, has escalated at alarming rates raising concerns that opiate use has reached epidemic proportions, particularly among the First Nations communities. The authors were involved in establishing Ontario's first rural inpatient medical withdrawal unit to serve patients seeking abstinence. ISSUES The development of the medical withdraw...

Perceived Barriers to Accessing Specialized Medical Care in Rural Communities of Ontario: A Pilot Study

Background. Rural residents seeking health care face barriers due to a shortage of healthcare professionals and the travel distance required to obtain medical services. This can lead to potentially harmful health outcomes, particularly when these citizens are unable to access specialized medical care. Few studies have specifically evaluated rural residents’ ability to access medical specialists...

Rural Ontario Youth and Mental Wellness

Attenuated Effects of Opiates in Adolescent vs. Adult Male Rats: Reinforcement, Relapse, and Withdrawal

Adolescence in humans is a vulnerable period for illicit drug use, and teenage onset of drug use is associated with long-term addiction. Adolescent sensitivity to drug reinforcement, relapse, and withdrawal has not been explored thoroughly in animal models, especially considering opiate drugs such as morphine and heroin. The present series of studies profiles adolescent sensitivity to opiates u...

Obesity rates among rural Ontario schoolchildren.

BACKGROUND The majority of existing studies of obesity risk among Canadian children come from urban populations. The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of obesity in a sample of rural Ontario children. METHODS Measures of height and weight were obtained for 504 children attending seven public elementary schools in Grey and Bruce Counties, a predominantly rural area of Southern ...