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 Ministry statement on lives lost to poisoned drugs in August and September
From the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions: Today, BC mourns the loss of 187 and 183 people to toxic drugs in August and September, respectively. They were brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, friends, colleagues and neighbours. The Province is working urgently to expand access to treatment services and save more lives. The new Opioid Treatment Access Line is available to people in all parts of B.C. to help them get fast access to addictions care. No matter where you live in the province, you can call 1 888 804-8111 to access same-day support, including medications and connection to health professionals to start you on your path to recovery. (October 24, 2024)
DULF Unveils Defense Strategy for Compassion-Club Criminal Charges
The Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) in Vancouver has outlined its intended defense to criminal charges against two of its founders for distributing tested heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. It’s framing the charges, against a compassion club designed to save lives, as unconstitutional. (October 17, 2024)
Canada doesn’t have enough beds to support involuntary addictions treatment, minister says
Provinces and territories need to do more to expand and improve their treatment services for people suffering from addictions and mental health conditions before they contemplate making some of those treatments mandatory, said federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks. “I would encourage B.C. or any other jurisdiction to, first and foremost, before they contemplate whether it is voluntary or involuntary, that they need the actual treatment services in place — which currently they don’t have,” she said. (October 11, 2024)
The opioid crisis has a ‘hidden’ brain injury epidemic
The precise number of drug users who have suffered overdose-related brain damage in Canada is not known. But the effects of that epidemic are readily apparent on the downtown streets of cities like Ottawa, where social disorder has grown steadily worse, and the job of caring for people who use drugs has grown ever more challenging. (October 10, 2024) Learn more.
Rustad changes story on fatal overdose coroner had no record of
The BC Coroners Service says it has no record of any recent drug toxicity death at a Vancouver intersection where B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad said he saw a man die while on his way to a televised election debate on October 8 — a story the Tory leader would later change completely. (October 9, 2024.)
Advocacy, Education, and Research
Unpacking the Effects of Decriminalization: Understanding Drug Use Experiences and Risks among Individuals Who Use Drugs in British Columbia
On January 31, 2023, a three-year exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was granted to the Canadian province British Columbia (BC), allowing the cumulative possession of 2.5 g of specific unregulated drugs amongst adults. The goals of the policy are to reduce health, social, and economic harms associated with criminalization, stigma, drug overdose deaths, as well as drug seizures, arrests, and associated enforcement and court costs. As the inaugural year has passed, we aimed to assess people who use drugs’ awareness and knowledge of the, as well as the policy’s impact on their drug use patterns and overdose risk.
Community Urinalysis and Self-Report Project: Overall Cross-Canada Trends in Substance Use, 2021–2023
New research shows that the contents of drugs from the unregulated supply remain unpredictable. In fact, there’s often a difference between what drugs people think they are taking and what they are actually consuming. This increases the risk of harm for people who use drugs. To better understand substance use trends and how expected substance use contents compares with actual substance use contents across Canada, data was collected from 2,634 participants at harm reduction sites in seven regions between January 2021 and April 2023.
Methadone much more effective than buprenorphine for treatment retention, SFU study finds
New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, evaluated the risk of treatment discontinuation and mortality in people prescribed opioid agonist treatment (OAT) over a 10-year period. it found that people with opioid use disorder in British Columbia who received methadone had a 37–40 per cent lower rate of treatment discontinuation compared with those who received buprenorphine/naloxone.
Webinar on demand: Using legal approaches to support the health of people who use drugs
This CATIE webinar explores how groups and advocates have used the legal system to influence the development and implementation of health services for people who use drugs. It provides an overview of how laws and policies can impact harm reduction, as well as highlights instances where legal approaches have been used to advance or protect the health and rights of people who use drugs. Speakers provide insights into how they have used different legal approaches to support access to health services for people who use drugs. Watch.
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]