Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’d like to rise and continue my discussions on prescription drug abuse here in the NWT. We do have serious addictions issues in the NWT and I know we are working toward solutions of dealing with them, and clearly I want to state for the record that we don’t want to undermine the fact that alcohol is probably one of, by far, the most abused substance in the NWT, but we do have a number of untracked addictions issues out there. With the recent NWT chief coroner’s report they echo those very same sentiments.

Prescription drug abuse of narcotics, benzodiazepines and certain over-the-counter medications are no longer the quiet addiction, and this addiction is real and now seeing the light of day.

My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As the issue of prescription drug abuse continues to surface, and again, when the NWT chief coroner reminds us of these 17 overdose cases from 2009 to 2012, what is the Minister or Department of Health and Social Services doing to track this addiction? Thank you.