”An encouraging trend” is what the lead researcher calls the findings of a new report on opioid prescriptions from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

About one-in-eight were prescribed opioids last year while only one-in-12 started a new opioid therapy according to data from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and B.C.

Those findings translate to about 220,000 fewer Canadians being prescribed opioids and around 175,000 fewer started the medications.

As for what contributed to the declines, report author and former hospital pharmacist Michael Gaucher points to the introduction two years ago to updated prescribing guidelines and increased overall awareness during the crisis, that’s put opioids, prescribed and illicit, ”front and centre”.