Substance Use News provides a monthly collection of news and resources on the social, medical and political responses to the toxic drug supply crisis and harm reduction. To get the latest toxic drug safety alerts, visit Info for People Who Use Substances page from Toward the Heart. Subscribe to our newsletter for information weekly- scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up. You can also visit our Substance Use and Harm Reduction page for more resources.
In the News
Joint Statement from the Co-Chairs of the Special Advisory Committee on the Epidemic of Opioid Overdoses – Latest National Data on Substance-Related Harms
The co-chairs of the federal, provincial, and territorial Special Advisory Committee on the Epidemic of Opioid Overdoses – Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, and Dr. Yves Léger, New Brunswick’s Acting Chief Medical Officer of Health – issued a statement on the release of the latest monitoring data on opioid- and stimulant-related harms in Canada. These latest data show that in Canada between January and September 2023, an average of 22 people died every day. Understanding the ongoing shifts in the composition of the illegal drug supply and patterns of drug use provides essential insights that can inform harm reduction and treatment approaches to help save lives.(March 27, 2024)
Pharmacies still paying patients kickbacks, DTES sources say
Frontline workers and community members in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside say some pharmacies are paying its patients kickbacks for prescriptions despite the practice being banned more than a decade ago. Dr. Sue Burgess and Dr. David Tu say they’ve seen patients reconsider treatment options based on how it could affect their kickback payments. As an example, Burgess says she’s had patients who were ideal candidates for once-a-month injectable Suboxone, but chose to remain on daily doses of methadone after realizing they might lose their weekly cash incentives from their pharmacy. “A pharmacy is actually interfering with their physician and the patient’s choice,” she said. (March 27, 2024)
Vancouver Island Construction Association scores kudos for substance-use program
A program developed on Vancouver Island to support and educate construction workers about substance use, mental health, and pain management has received national accolades. The Vancouver Island Construction Association’s (VICA) Tailgate Toolkit program has won the Canadian Construction Association’s (CCA) 2024 Community Award. “To have the recognition of your peers which represent the demographic the Tailgate Toolkit is looking to reach, underlines the shift our industry has made in addressing substance use, mental health, and pain management in recent years,” VICA CEO Rory Kulmala said in a release. (March 25, 2024)
Mother says package presenting cannabis like ‘treat’ put children in N.S. hospital
The mother of a nine-year-old boy says packaging that depicts highly potent cannabis as a “treat” led her son and several classmates at a Halifax school to consume them and become violently ill. The school sent MacDonald an image of the package of “strawberry/grape” edibles branded as “Nerd Bites” that was found at the school after the children became ill. Dr. Bruce Crooks, a pediatric oncologist/hematologist, said the amount of cannabis the children were reported to have consumed is “a huge dose,” that’s roughly 20 times the amounts an adult might take as a recreational dose. (March 24, 2024)
A Conservative MP Helped Spread Misinformation about Safe Injection Sites
The founder of an overdose prevention site in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside says she’s disappointed to see a Conservative politician spreading misinformation about safe injection sites during a crisis that has killed over 40,000 Canadians. Sarah Blyth is urging politicians to verify online posts after Todd Doherty, Conservative MP for Cariboo-Prince George, shared a video taken by a former homeless outreach worker from Oregon who is currently facing 19 charges of theft, identity theft and official misconduct related to his job. (March 14, 2024)
BC’s safe-supply drugs aren’t being widely diverted: solicitor general
British Columbia’s solicitor general says there’s no evidence of widespread diversion of safe-supply opioids into the illegal drug market, after a recent seizure was cited by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre to criticize the provincial program. Mike Farnworth says he’s spoken to the RCMP’s commanding officer in B.C. about the drug seizure in Prince George and was told the idea that there is widespread diversion is “simply not true.” He says Smith and Poilievre shouldn’t have made claims about the seizure without waiting for all the information. (March 11, 2024)
BC top court upholds pause on law restricting public drug use
BC’s top court has rejected the province’s attempt to appeal a pause on a law restricting illicit substance use in many public spaces. The pause was imposed during a legal challenge of that law, launched by drug user advocates. “The Court of Appeal found that it was not in the public interest to allow B.C. to seek to appeal the injunction order,” said DJ Larkin, a lawyer with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. (March 2, 2024)
Oregon Is Recriminalizing Drugs, Dealing Setback to Reform Movement
Oregon removed criminal penalties for possessing street drugs in 2020. But amid soaring overdose deaths, state lawmakers have voted to bring back some restrictions. Decriminalization proponents say the large number of overdose deaths stems from a confluence of factors and failures largely unrelated to the law. They have warned against returning to a “war on drugs” strategy and have urged the Legislature to instead invest in affordable housing and drug treatment options. (March 1, 2024)
Advocacy and Research
Holding and Untangling: National Survey Report
The Women and Gender Expansive Populations (WGEP) Project was developed to identify and address access barriers and facilitators at supervised consumption services (SCS) and overdose prevention sites (OPS). This project was led by the Lived Expertise Leadership Group (LEL Group) which is composed of women and gender expansive people who use(d) drugs. This report summarizes the survey results, provides recommendations from the Lived Expertise Leadership Group with insights from the stakeholder advisory committee, and a comprehensive literature scan.
Providing medication for opioid use disorder and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis at syringe services programs via telemedicine
People who inject drugs (PWID) are at high risk for opioid overdose and infectious diseases including HIV. Researchers piloted PARTNER UP, a telemedicine-based program to provide PWID with medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) with buprenorphine/naloxone (bup/nx) and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine through two syringe services programs (SSP) in North Carolina. This study presents overall results from this project, including participant retention rates and self-reported medication adherence.
Early intervention may fight chronic pain without opioids
For most people, recovering from an injury or surgery might require a short round of painkillers, but for about one in 10 people, pain can trigger protracted and escalating mental, physical, and behavioural health problems. Identifying who is at risk of poor pain outcomes after an injury or surgery could help steer patients to early holistic intervention that set them on a better course while also reducing the potential for opioid overuse.
Can Court Cases Turn the Tide for Canadian Harm Reduction?
Amid a wave of hostile public and political discourse, several cases before the courts in British Columbia and Canada could see advances in, or protections of, drug users’ rights. Turning to the courts may offer a way for people who use drugs to advance their rights in a non-partisan setting that tends to be less swayed by fear-mongering. But advocates note that it’s far from a perfect solution—particularly if it doesn’t come with a suite of other tactics, including, crucially, grassroots organizing.
Unpacking Police Statements on Drug Seizures: What Do We Know?
Police communications about drug seizures vary widely in their accuracy. These statements rarely share specific evidence or data sources and sometimes contain errors or overstatements. Without forensic testing, police may base their conclusions on visual assessments of shape, size, colour and packaging. Many of these visual clues can be closely copied by producers of counterfeit pills. Most hydromorphone is prescribed for pain management, not as safe supply. If police do not have evidence of the reasons seized medications were prescribed, it is irresponsible for them to speculate. If police have demonstrable proof that drug seizures include prescription medications, they should refer to them as such, rather than guess or assume they are prescribed safer supply.
Study Confirms DULF Saved Lives by Distributing Tested Drugs
Research first published informally by Vancouver’s Drug User Liberation Front has now been published in a peer-reviewed international journal. The study, published recently in the International Journal of Drug Policy, found the 47 compassion club members were less likely to die from overdose while they were able to access this safer supply.
Sensors instantly detect fentany and other drugs
Researchers have developed a new generation of high-performance DNA aptamers and highly accurate drug sensors for cocaine and other drugs. In a pair of studies appearing in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and JACS Au, researcher Yi Xiao led a team that developed aptamer-based sensors for cocaine, heroin, codeine, fentanyl, and other illicit drugs.
Young people at the centre of the toxic drug poisoning crisis
Vancouver may be considered by many as the “best place” to live, but many young people living in the city are facing unprecedented challenges that are making their futures more precarious than ever. Hundreds of youth who call Vancouver home are standing at the intersection of a housing affordability crisis and a toxic drug poisoning public health emergency. Dr. Danya Fast, a research scientist at BC Centre on Substance Use and Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Medicine, has been following the lives of young people who use drugs in Vancouver. Those experiences are captured in her new book, “The Best Place: Addiction, Intervention, and Living and Dying Young in Vancouver”.
“We Must Not Let History Repeat Itself:” Race-Baiting and Revenge in Richmond
The the media’s sensational coverage of protests mobilized to oppose the possibility of a safe consumption site in Richmond and the rank racism captured on camera has no place in the movement for harm reduction. If left unaddressed, the long-running current of anti-Asian xenophobia that surfaced in this confrontation will further undermine the cause of the drug user liberation movement, which has historically been led by working-class, racialized communities combating anti-Indigenous, anti-Black, and anti-immigrant criminalization.
NaloxHome founder Chloe Goodison is committed to saving lives
NaloxHome was born in 2021 by first-year SFU student, Chloe Goodison. After graduating secondary school without learning about BC’s overdose crisis, Chloe saw a hole: despite being in it’s 5th consecutive year as a declared Public Health Crisis, students aren’t learning the signs of an overdose, where to get naloxone, BC’s poisoned drug supply, harm reduction, and how to keep each other safe. She started NaloxHome to deliver evidence-based information.
One More Day
FENTANYL KILLS. That’s what the billboard says. That’s all the billboard says. Splashed across the bottom right-hand corner of the billboard are the insignia of several city agencies proudly supporting its message. What is noticeably absent is any reference to a single resource—not a website, not a phone number, not a mention of how someone might stop using fentanyl and thus avoid their impending death.
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 care and harm reduction.
Visit the National Safer Supply Community of Practice (NSS-CoP), whose goal is to scale up safer supply programs across Canada.
Visit the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research site for research on aclohol and substance use.
Questions? Feedback? Get in touch. Janet Madsen, Capacity Building and Digital Communications Coordinator, [email protected]
Focus image by Andrew, Flickr (Creative Commons)