Substance Use News provides a monthly collection of news and resources on the social, medical and political responses to the toxic drug supply crisis. Info for People Who Use Substances: get the latest alerts, and tips on how to stay safe from Toward the Heart. Visit our Substance Use and Harm Reduction page for more resources.
In the News
A Call to Action! 7th Anniversary of the BC Public Health Crisis!
On Friday, April 14th 2023, BC Moms Stop the Harm advocates will be stepping up pressure for a safer supply of substances with rallies and events across the province. We invite you to join us in this provincial action by hosting an event in your community. MSTH is pleased to share that BC Starbucks will be recognizing this day of action and have invited Moms Stop the Harm to host a public awareness table at their stores. Visit MSTH site for more info.
BC’s Toxic Drug Death Toll Is Not Budging
The first month of 2023 saw 211 people in British Columbia killed by toxic drug poisonings, equivalent to almost seven people dying each day. The vast majority are men aged 30 to 59, dying alone in their own homes and private residences, according to the data. Two youth under 18 and 32 people between 19 and 29 also died in January. “Once again, our agency is reporting on preventable losses of life in heart-breaking numbers,” said chief coroner Lisa Lapointe in a statement.
Why I’m Fighting the Deadly Alberta Drug Model
I am not an addiction expert. However, I don’t believe many so-called addiction experts base their knowledge in strong evidence. A PhD in biology taught me to sniff out pseudoscience, and it is rife in abstinence-only treatment. This holds particularly true in Alberta, which has become an epicentre of drug policy misinformation led by Premier Danielle Smith’s chief of staff, Marshall Smith, writes Euan Thomson.
Feds back supervised consumption sites day after Manitoba introduces bill on licensing them
The federal minister of mental heath and addictions says she is concerned some may misunderstand the role harm reduction plays in reducing overdose deaths after the Manitoba government said it would introduce legislation that would require licensing for supervised drug consumption sites. “We want to make sure that nothing is increasing the barriers to people getting harm reduction,” Bennett said.
The Chronic Challenge of Burnout Among Harm Reduction Workers
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the midst of the overdose crisis, many harm reduction workers are experiencing burnout. While there’s growing awareness of this issue for staff in many fields, like health care, people working in harm reduction and community organizations face a slew of specific challenges, according to a new paper. There are inevitably knock-on impacts for people in need who are served by these organizations.
Advocacy and Education
Crackdown Podcast Episode 37: Drugstore Cowboy
Diversion: a cold, technocratic word for when we give, trade or sell our prescribed meds to someone else. A ghost story, whispered among doctors and now, a moral panic, hollered by right wing politicians. But really, everyone’s shared their meds. Hear from folks who have done it, and researchers who are looking at its impact.
They Call Me a Drug Seeker. Here’s What Their Opioid Policies Did to Me
I’m more than a pain patient: I’m a mother, a grandmother, a wife, and worked in the nursing profession until long-term illness ended my career over 20 years ago. I’m also one of approximately 100 million people in the United States living with chronic pain. Too many of us have had the medications we need taken away.
AI and Twitter Could Help Predict Opioid Deaths
A unique approach using artificial intelligence and social media posts could predict opioid mortality rates, researchers report. Researchers created TrOP (Transformer for Opioid Prediction), a new model for community-specific trend projections that uses community-specific social media language, along with past opioid-related mortality data to predict future changes in opioid-related deaths.
Xylazine, commonly mixed with fentanyl, can increase the risk of overdose
Health Canada says it’s receiving an increasing number of illegal drug samples that contain xylazine — a veterinary sedative, relaxant and pain reliever not approved for human use. “It can cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure and heart rate, and when taken with other depressants like opioids, increases your risk of overdose,” said Samuel Tobias, a PhD student at the BC Centre for Substance Use.
Motives for alcohol use, drinking patterns and harm reduction practices among people who experience homelessness and alcohol dependence in Montreal
People experiencing homelessness are disproportionately affected by harms related to alcohol use. Indeed, their alcohol dependence is associated with numerous physical and mental health problems along with strikingly high rates of alcohol-related mortality. Recent research has extensively examined alcohol use patterns among people experiencing homelessness in an effort to develop interventions and treatments for this problem. only a few studies have incorporated the perspectives of the individuals under study about their drinking or examined the ways in which they manage the associated harms.
Visit the BC Centre for Disease Control’s Unregulated Drug Poisoning Emergency Dashboard for provincial data from different sources.
Visit the BC Centre on Substance Use for information on evidence-based approaches to substance use and addiction.
Visit the National Safer Supply Community of Practice (NSS-CoP), whose goal is to scale up safer supply programs across Canada.
Questions? Feedback? Get in touch. Janet Madsen, Capacity Building and Digital Communications Coordinator, [email protected]