The B-C government says nurse practitioners in the province can now prescribe drugs to treat opioid addiction. An expansion of standards by the College of Registered Nurses of B-C means nurse practitioners are allowed to prescribe medications such as injectable hydromorphone, methadone and suboxone. More than 14-hundred people died of illicit drug overdoses across the province last year. Nurse practitioners who want to prescribe the drugs must undergo training with the B-C Centre on Substance Use.