Substance Use News April 2024

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

Mixed reviews as BC significantly rolls back drug decriminalization

Plans to significantly roll back British Columbia’s controversial drug decriminalization pilot are being met with mixed reviews from municipal leaders and those working on the frontline of the province’s toxic drug crisis. The province has not adequately increased harm reduction services like overdose prevention sites, expanded safer supply and accessible treatment options that are needed to save lives, say advocactes Garth Mullins (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users), D.J. Larkin (Canadian Drug Policy Coalition), and the Harm Reduction Nurses Association. (April 27, 2024)

 

BC Moves to Ban Drug Use in Public Spaces

The Ministry of Health is developing a consistent approach to prevent illicit drug use in BC hospitals through universal policies, practice requirements, and appropriate enforcement approaches. Working in partnership and consultation with First Nation and Indigenous partners, health-care providers, professional associations, health-care unions, patients and communities, seven actions highlighted in this article outline elements of a policy framework that will be implemented across all hospitals. (April 27, 2024)

 

British Columbia to recriminalize use of drugs in public spaces

After weeks of troubling stories about problematic street drug use in hospitals, parks and at bus stops, the province of British Columbia announced plans to recriminalize the use of drugs in public places Friday — radically altering a pilot program aimed at addressing the toxic drug crisis. (April 26, 2024)

 

8 years and 14,000 deaths later, BC’s drug emergency rages on

In the dozen years she’s worked with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, executive director Brittany Graham has lost count of the people she’s seen succumb to toxic, illicit drugs. Sunday marked eight years to the day since British Columbia declared a public health emergency related to the drug crisis, and Graham said it’s a sombre anniversary as she and others in public health reflect on the thousands of deaths. (April 15, 2024)

 

More than 1 in 4 deaths among young people in Canada were opioid-related in 2021, study finds

Opioid-related deaths doubled in Canada between 2019 and the end of 2021, with Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta experiencing a dramatic jump, mostly among men in their 20s and 30s, says a new study that calls for targeted harm-reduction policies. Manitoba saw the sharpest rise in overdose deaths for those aged 30 to 39 — reaching 500 deaths per million population, more than five times the 89 deaths per million population recorded at the beginning of the study period. (April 15, 2024)

 

Contrasting studies show possible impact of safer supply in BC

Peer-reviewed research is emerging about the possible effects of British Columbia’s safer supply program, with two studies in international medical journals casting the strategy in a different light. study found program led to reduced risk of death from overdose; other found increase in hospitalizations. The authors of the studies say the two sets of results aren’t contradictory; instead, they ask different questions about the policy, which was introduced in 2020. (April 11, 2024)

 

BC’s first detox services for Indigenous youth coming to Island

The Orca Lelum Youth Wellness Centre in Lantzville will be the first in the province to offer detox services, specifically for Indigenous youth. The centre will provide 20 substance-use treatment beds that offer culturally informed care to Indigenous people aged 12 to 18 years. Services will be available in phases, starting in June 2024, as more staff get hired and trained. The centre is expected to be operating at full capacity in fall 2024. (April 9, 2024)

 

Advocacy, Education, and Research

Magic mushrooms may safely treat depression

Previous studies have suggested that the psychedelic fungi can have positive effects for patients suffering from some mental illnesses, but one question remains: Is psilocybin actually a safe alternative to traditional medications? A new meta-analysis suggests it may be. (April 24, 2024)

 

Mapping a moral panic: News media narratives and medical expertise in public debates on safer supply, diversion, and youth drug use in Canada 

This essay examines the trajectory through which narratives about youth and diversion in relation to safer supply emerged and gained traction. Using the concept of moral panics, we assess recent discussions in the public sphere and in Canadian news media regarding Safer Supply Programs (SSPs). The mobilization of the “general” public as a rhetorical device positions people who use drugs (PWUD) as outside of the public. Such appeals to the need to protect the “general” public echo early AIDS-era calls to contain risks within impacted groups and to protect a presumed heterosexual, non-drug using “public”. (April 19, 2024)

 

Drug decriminalization is not to blame for all of our social woes

Decriminalization is taking a beating in the court of public opinion. Oregon has rolled back its high-profile initiative and recriminalized drug possession. And the B.C. decriminalization pilot project is being blamed for all manner of social ills. Would overdoses have increased without decriminalization? Almost certainly. Deaths are increasing because the drug supply is poisoned, not because it’s no longer a crime to possess. (April 16, 2024)

 

Understanding and challenging stigma related to alcohol use and Indigenous people

In this episode of Addiction Practice Pod, David P. Ball and First Nations Health Authority’s Medical Officer, Mental Health and Wellness, Dr. Nolan Hop Wo discuss the impact of stereotypes related to Indigenous people and alcohol use. Together, they speak with Beryl Parke, a Traditional Wellness Worker at First Nations Health Authority. (April 11, 2024)

 

Protonitazepyne and Medetomidine? More Unfamiliar Drugs in Our Supply

North America’s unregulated drug supply has grown ever more unpredictable, which often means deadly. A legal, regulated, safe supply of drugs—so people know what they’re getting and how much of it—would be the best answer. In the absence of that, we should learn as much as we can about what’s out there, to try to keep ourselves and others aware and safe. Two substances that have made news lately are protonitazepyne, found in Quebec City, and medetomidine (and/or dexmedetomidine), found in Toronto. (April 9, 2024)

 

Harms and costs of proposed changes in how alcohol is sold in Ontario

The Ontario government recently announced its intention to change how alcohol is sold, starting in early 2026, which will include allowing pricing competition among stores and authorizing an additional 8500 privately run convenience, grocery, and big box stores to sell alcohol. Extensive international evidence suggests that these proposed changes will lead to greater alcohol use and associated harms, which include deaths, emergency department visits, hospital admissions, interpersonal violence, and chronic disease. (April 8, 2024)

 

Talking about Tina Part 3: Delivering Meth-Related Care to GBT2Q Communities

In the final entry of this blog series from CBRC, the focus is on capacity building and suggested practices in delivering care to GBT2Q people who use methamphetamine (meth). Meth use is on the rise and our mental healthcare system has not caught up to respond to the needs of GBT2Q people. With few culturally relevant supports in place, GBT2Q communities are often left dealing with untreated symptoms or visiting emergency departments for immediate crisis supports (e.g. anxiety, panic attacks, psychosis). The recent influx in amphetamine-related emergency department visits and drug-related harms begs the question, how can providers best deliver care and support GBT2Q people who use meth? (April 4, 2024)

 

BCCSU Drug Checking Project

THe BC Centre on Substance Use Drug Checking Project partners with sites across the province to build an expanding network of drug-checking services. Drug checking empowers people who use drugs to make informed decisions about the substances they intend to use and helps provide timely information about what is in the drug supply.


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)