With a porous southern border, street fentanyl continues to enter the United States and be purchased by recreational drug users, all while the U.S. government continues to treat suffering cancer patients like criminals when it comes to legitimate pain medication access. It isn't much better in Canada, according to a new study.

While cancer patients may die earlier, it is known that recreational drug users have much greater early mortality rates. Unless they are diagnosed with another chronic disease and are in the health care system, they may not receive palliative care of any kind. They won't get opioids legally, perhaps because the illegal kind ends their life. Some studies have found they are 600% more likely to die younger.


In the UK, heroin among young people became so common they were deemed the Trainspotting Generation, after  a book by Irvine Walsh  and a 1996 film.

The analysis of 679,840 deaths used various Canadian databases such as Continuing Care Reporting System, Discharge Abstract Database, and Drug and Drug/Alcohol Related Death, and 11,200 of the deceased (1.6%) were diagnosed with an opioid use disorder.

People with opioid use disorder died at younger, at 50 years versus 78 for those without opioid use disorder, and were more likely to be destitute. They were 16% less likely to receive palliative care, which isn't because of income levels keeping them out of hospitals, health care is free in Canada, so it may be because they died of overdose.

Those with addiction who did go into palliative care had diagnoses of cancer, liver cirrhosis, and sepsis.