[Comment] Strategic approaches to reducing the substance use-related burden of disease in Canada

Substance use is a primary risk factor for premature mortality and morbidity, and Burden of Disease (BoD) in the populations of high-income countries.1 The reduction of this substance use-related BoD requires effective public health intervention strategies. In Canada, a recent primary focus has been on responses to the ‘overdose death crisis’ which has claimed >52,000 lives since 2016, through acute drug toxicity fatalities—mostly from synthetic, toxic opioids.2 In 2023, this toll involved 8,623 fatalities (population rate: 21.5/100,000) of mostly young/middle-aged adults, making it the leading cause of unnatural deaths and a measurable driver of reduced life-expectancy in the Canadian population.