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
With peer support, Hamilton hospital helps build trust, provide comfort for those in substance use program
Marcie McIlveen never thought she’d work in a hospital. Due to her negative experiences in treatment for substance use disorder on about 14 occasions, “I hated health care, did not like it, wanted nothing to do with it,” McIlveen said. What she endured, however, has led to the work she does today. McIlveen is a peer support supervisor of a new St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton project — it involves people who’ve experienced addiction offering support to patients in the substance use program. (March 20, 2025)
BC Drug Checking Symposium brings together experts to share knowledge, best practices
More than 130 drug checking technicians, service providers, community members, policy makers, program planners, and researchers from across BC and Canada gathered for the Drug Checking Symposium last month. The two-day symposium provided a forum for those involved in drug checking to share the latest knowledge, foster connections, and discuss the future of drug checking in British Columbia. (March 17, 2025)
BC aims to clear up misunderstandings surrounding involuntary care with new memo to doctors
The BC government has released guidance to psychiatrists and other healthcare workers on when individuals struggling with mental-health and substance-use problems can be involuntarily detained under the law and provided with treatment. it was prepared by Dr. Daniel Vigo, BC’s chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders. It’s estimated there are around 18,000 people in BC who receive occasional involuntary treatment and Vigo believes the focus needs to start with the about 150 people who are most affected by a combination of mental-health and substance-use disorders. (March 12, 2025)
Why Do Patients Pay to Access Free Opioid Agonist Treatment?
A group that has been fighting to improve access to opioid agonist therapy for decades has filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal. The BC Association of People on Opioid Maintenance says monthly access fees charged by clinics that prescribe opioid agonist treatment, also referred to as OAT, are discriminatory and fly in the face of Canada’s universal health-care system. (March 12, 2025)
5 Key Reasons Why: a gender analysis is important when talking about the closure to Supervised Consumption Sites
In August 2024 the Ontario government proposed legislation that would result in the closure of at least 10 supervised consumption sites (SCS) across Ontario, and on December 4th, 2024, the legislation titled the Community Care and Recovery Act was officially adopted.. Less discussed but of critical importance, the closure of SCS will have a dire impact on women and gender-diverse people. This resource seeks to bring a gendered lens to our understanding of the impacts of the Community Care and Recovery Act by outlining 5 key considerations and laying the groundwork for strategies to address these impacts. (February 19, 2025)
Education and Research
Gender affirming substance use care for trans and gender diverse youth
In this episode of Addiction Practice Pod, journalist David P. Ball is joined by Dr. Marcus Greatheart, a family physician, registered social worker, and author. Together, they explore how clinicians can create safe and affirming spaces for trans and gender-diverse youth in substance use care by addressing systemic barriers, promoting trauma-informed approaches, and challenging fear-based narratives. They also speak with Toby and Alec, members of the Substance Use Beyond the Binary Youth Action Committee at the BC Centre on Substance Use.
Optimizing placement of public-access naloxone kits using geospatial analytics: a modelling study
More than 85 000 people die annually across North America from opioid poisoning; naloxone in the hands of the public is an effective intervention and saves lives. Researchers compared the accessibility of different placement strategies for public-access naloxone kits.
Parental alcohol abuse can raise cancer risk for kids
Researchers working in the lab of Michael Golding of the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have previously demonstrated that paternal drinking habits before conception can have a negative effect on fetal development, even up to three months after ceasing to drink.
Creating safe, inclusive spaces for hospital-based health care staff and people who use drugs: an exploratory qualitative study in Vancouver, Canada
This project sought to contribute to healthy, safe organizational cultures within Vancouver’s hospital system healthcare system as one method to address indirect harms of the province’s drug toxicity and housing syndemic. A tertiary care inner-city hospital in western Canada partnered with the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education and Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users to convene a participatory action research project to identify systemic and personal barriers to safe, non-stigmatizing, and effective care at a local health care setting and to propose ways of responding to these conditions.
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]