Overdoses in Quebec and social inequalities in health
At the request of a group of community organizations working with drug users, a research team from the School of Social Work of the University of Montreal was asked to conduct a content analysis of the coroner’s reports in overdose death cases. This research project takes place in the context of the opioid crisis occurring in Quebec and Canada. The aim of this project was to determine through a content analysis of investigative reports how they can improve the understanding and actions to be taken against the overdose crisis. The research offers a content analysis of such reports of 340 people who died in 2017 in Quebec and whose probable cause of death is linked to the use of at least one substance. This paper presents the results related to the health and social context of the overdose decedents based on the data provided in the coroner’s investigation reports. The theoretical framework of the determinants of health is used, allowing us to adopt a global approach unfortunately little used in intervention. Showing that the crisis is much more than an opioid crisis, our results highlight the overrepresentation of physical and mental health problems among people who have died from overdoses, in addition to the underlying socioeconomic issues. Ultimately, we hope that this comprehensive reading of the overdose crisis raging in Quebec and which concerns stakeholders, public health actors, policy makers, and many others, will help develop a better response to this issue.