In this podcast, we hear from two experts who are calling on the Canadian minister of health to recall high-strength opioid formulations from the Canadian market. They explain why it might be time to consider using Vanessa's Law, which empowers the minister of health to recall a drug when he or she “believes that a therapeutic product presents a serious or imminent risk of injury to health.”Prof. Matthew Herder is the Director of the Health Law Institute and Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dr. David Juurlink is staff internist and head of the division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.They co-wrote a commentary article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.Full commentary article: www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.181289To request a transcript of this podcast, contact cmajgroup@cmaj.caSubscribe to CMAJ Podcasts on Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast app. You can also follow us directly on our SoundCloud page or you can visit www.cmaj.ca/page/multimedia/podcasts.

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Time to recall high-strength opioid formulations?