Substance Use News, September 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

BC election: Critics see drug debate tainted by politicization

When NDP Leader David Eby announced this month that the province would open “secure facilities” to provide involuntary care for people with severe drug addiction or mental health problems, it represented a moment of policy unity with the rival B.C. Conservatives ahead of the fall election. But for drug policy advocate DJ Larkin, the consensus was loaded with irony — since the province currently isn’t able to supply enough beds even for those who want treatment, let alone those who don’t. (September 28, 2024)

 

Involuntary Care Doesn’t Work. What BC Should Do Instead

The number of people being detained under B.C.’s Mental Health Act has increased dramatically over the last two decades. However, we know through provincial data that the use of detention, force and coercion has repeatedly proven to be ineffective, and often counterproductive, in reducing or preventing mental health crises. Safety is best achieved through evidence-based treatment and harm-reduction approaches for people experiencing mental health crises or living with mental disorders. (September 24, 2024)

 

Greens vow to expand safer supply of drugs in BC

Former British Columbia chief coroner Lisa Lapointe has emerged from retirement to throw her weight behind a BC Green Party campaign pledge to expand the safer supply of opioids and other drugs to deal with the province’s deadly overdose crisis. The Greens are also pledging an evidence-based standard for treatment and recovery, with Lapointe saying there’s a lack of evidence that compulsory drug treatment plans pushed by other parties will work. (September 24, 2024)

 

Safe consumption sites and HART should go hand in hand

As health-care providers for people who use drugs (PWUD) in Ontario, we know that the decision to close 10 out of 17 safe consumption sites (SCSs) goes against current research and knowledge of best clinical practice. The government justified closures by introducing new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs. While there is still much not known about these hubs, we advise that they need not come at the expense of tested, effective, and established SCSs. (September 23, 2024)

 

Vancouver’s first indoor safe inhalation site opens, aims to reduce toxic drug poisonings

Vancouver’s first indoor supervised inhalation site is ready to open with the aim of reducing drug poisonings and disease transmission, offering referrals for those seeking treatment, and decreasing drug use in public. The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV and AIDS (BC-CfE) unveiled the inhalation site Septmeber 18 at Hope to Health Research and Innovation Centre in the Downtown Eastside. (September 18, 2024)

 

Eby and Rustad Agree on Involuntary Treatment. Experts Say They’re Wrong

Conservative Party of BC Leader John Rustad and NDP Leader David Eby both say they will introduce involuntary treatment for people who use drugs or have mental health issues. None of the parties’ calls to action address the toxic drug supply, which is the reason more than six people per day are dying in BC, said Gillian Kolla, collaborating scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria. (September 16, 2024)

 

Following Backlash, BC Removes Harm Reduction Vending Machines

Harm reduction vending machines are being closed across British Columbia while the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions reviews the low-barrier distribution model. The province says it’s conducting a review. Experts say the machines should not be used as a ‘political tool. (September 11, 2024)

 

Interior Health introduces self-referral for addictions treatment

In a September 4 media release, IH announced a new, virtual self-referral service for people living with alcohol or opioid use disorder to quickly and directly get help by referring themselves to the Virtual Addiction Medicine (VAM) Clinic with an online form at interiorhealth.ca/vam. Individuals can use it for themselves, but family and friends can also refer someone provided that person is aware of the action and agrees to it. (September 4, 2024)

 

BC Government Keeps On Caving to Anti-Harm Reduction Pressure

British Columbia’s government continues to cede ground on harm reduction, as an emboldened opposition, chasing victory in the province’s October 19 general election, expands its array of targets. Right-wing opposition politicians are going after programs that provide basic tools to keep people safer, such as sterile needles and pipes. (September 4, 2024)

 

The Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation’s Statement on the Closure of Supervised Consumption Sites

The Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation (CDPE) is deeply concerned by the Ontario Ministry of Health’s announcement of the closure of 10 supervised consumption sites across the province, including five sites in the City of Toronto. Given what has been demonstrated regarding their impact, the closure of supervised consumption sites will lead to greater harms across communities, including heightened overdose mortality, public drug use, and a greater burden on first responders and emergency departments. We therefore call on the Ontario government to make public the scientific evidence it used to support this decision, and to reconsider these closures. (September 4, 2024.)

 

 

Advocacy, Education, and Research

Asking difficult questions about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in the context of the child, the mother, and the systems in which they live

Alcohol is a known teratogen and prenatal alcohol exposure remains a major ongoing public health concern. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder has become the diagnosis for describing individuals who have been affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. In this Viewpoint, we raise major concerns about its continued use as a diagnostic term in how it perpetuates a misleading and outdated narrative about child development and maternal health. We argue that the term fetal alcohol spectrum disorder has contributed to a culture of racism and discrimination for many who are diagnosed with it.  You may also listen to a podcast on the paper. Click link and scroll down to Latest Audio section: In conversation with… Sabrina Eliason and Nancy Lanphear.

 

“Give me the reigns of taking care of myself with a home”: Healing environments in an Indigenous-led alcohol harm reduction program

Distinct from western Managed Alcohol Programs (MAPs), Indigenous-led alcohol harm reduction programs can be defined by both ‘culture as healing’ and decolonized harm reduction philosophies. We sought to explore experiences of Indigenous ‘family members’ (participants) in an Indigenous-led alcohol harm reduction program and culturally supportive housing to identify appropriate supports according to family member perspectives, and to inform delivery of the program.

 

Measures of fentanyl consumption in the wastewater of Canadian cities, January 2022 to November 2023

Drug use in Canada has become a significant public health concern, with opioid use, addiction, and resulting deaths standing out as particularly pressing issues. In the context of the ongoing opioid crisis in many parts of Canada, wastewater data can provide information to contribute to a better understanding of current drug use and emerging trends. The Canadian Wastewater Survey (CWS) measures the levels of 10 different drugs—including opioids such as fentanyl—in the wastewater of selected Canadian cities: Halifax, Montréal, Toronto, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Edmonton and Metro Vancouver.

 

Public stigma against fentanyl overdose decedents in the United States: A conjoint vignette experiment

The United States is facing a drug overdose crisis, and stigma against people who use drugs is a major roadblock to implementing solutions. Despite the public health importance of understanding and mitigating substance use stigma, prior research has focused mainly on perceptions of individuals with substance use disorders and a limited set of demographic traits. This leaves critical gaps in our understanding of stigma against fentanyl overdose decedents, who represent a much broader group, including people who use substances recreationally.

 

The “goldfish bowl”: a qualitative study of the effects of heightened surveillance on people who use drugs in a rural and coastal Canadian setting

Research has focused on contextual factors that shape health and well-being of people who use drugs (PWUD) frequently focuses on large cities and less is known about the effects of social and structural contexts on drug use and associated risks in rural Canadian settings. This study examines rural-specific contextual factors that affect the day-to-day experiences of PWUD.

 


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]

 

Image: purplejavatroll, Flickr (Creative Commons).