Need for equity in treatment of substance use among Indigenous people in Canada

Key Points

• Indigenous people have poorer health, on average, than non-Indigenous populations and carry a disproportionate burden of the harms related to substance use, resulting from structural and systemic disadvantages caused by colonization.
• Potential solutions to reduce health disparities may include individuals being connected to traditional culture.
• Evidence supports the promise of culturally based and community-owned services for promoting individual and community health, and reducing health disparities.

(author abstract)