After many years of success, EvidenceNetwork.ca is no longer in operation. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the organization over the past decade including our dedicated researchers, newspaper editors, readers and funders. However, now it is time to move onto new ways of looking at knowledge mobilization and policy. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shannon Sampert at s.sampert@uwinnipeg.ca.

Backgrounders

Our backgrounders are intended to help journalists, and others, understand the context and current available evidence on specific public policy issues in just a few, brief pages.

Backgrounders do not provide a viewpoint or opinion on a topic, but rather, detail the history of an issue and highlight why the issue is of importance today. They also point the reader to the most reliable, balanced research, so that they may pursue the topic in more depth or fact-check the key details easily.

Backgrounder: Canada’s prescription opioid crisis

“The misuse of opioids has grown exponentially with devastating consequences” – First Do No Harm: Responding to Canada’s Prescription Drug Crisis (Canadian Council on Substance Abuse, 2013).