BC declared a public health emergency in April 2016 as a result of rising deaths due to overdose, which is now more aptly identified as deaths as a result of a toxic drug supply. This ongoing crisis has significant impact on people with lived and living experience (PWLLE), who may be frontline first responders at PAN member and allied organizations, advocates at community tables, educators for better policy, or part of numerous efforts for harm reduction to save lives. The resources provided here reflect resource requests from members and allies.
While these pieces are organized into sections, issues intersect, so please keep that in mind when scrolling through. There is a lot of good and determined advocacy going on, and while we can’t represent it all here, we respect the many efforts for change.
For more information on PAN’s advocacy work, visit Policy Change and Collective Action
Explore sections
Substance Use News, PAN’s monthly collection of advocacy news and and resources
Voices of Lived Experience
Decriminalization in BC: January 2023-January 2026
Grief and Support
Harm Reduction and Decriminalization
Drug Poisoning Prevention, Care and Recovery
The Fight Against Stigma
Treatment Resources and Care
Reports, Recommendations, and Research
Substance Use News
Substance Use News is a monthly collection of advocacy news and resources on the social, medical and political responses to the toxic drug supply crisis. Following the public health emergency declaration in April 2016, PAN centred discussions on substance use and harm reduction at our member conference in the fall of that year. Coming from community requests, we developed two initial reports in 2016 and 2017, and Substance Use News, an ongoing publication.
2024
October 2024 | September 2024 | August 2024 | July 2024 | June 2024 | May 2024 | April 2024 | March 2024 | February 2024 | January 2024
Visit the Substance Use News Archives page for additional issues and reports dating back to 2016.
Listen to Voices of Lived Experience
Groups in British Columbia
BC and Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors: BCYADWS is a drug user group based on advocacy, education and support.
Coalition of Substance Users of the North (CSUN) is a BC alliance of people who use or have used currently illicit/illegal drugs.
Drug User Liberation Front: DULF was formed in response to the ever-mounting overdose deaths in BC and across Canada.
Rural Empowered Drug Users Network (REDUN) A program for current and former drug users, and their friends, family, and supporters.
We want to be a part of the structures that serve us.
Surrey Newton Union of Drug Users The Surrey Newton Union of Drug Users (SNUDU) is a group of people who use(d) drugs in Surrey Newton community of BC.
SOLID is a Victoria, BC-based organization of current or former drug users that provides support, education and advocacy.
VANDU: The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) is a group of users and former users who work to improve the lives of people who use drugs through user-based peer support and education. VANDU makes space and support for focused groups that include the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS), the British Columbia Association Of People On Opiate Maintenance (BCAPOM); and the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group For Education.
Crackdown podcast: This podcast came out of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and the production team describes it as “The drug war, covered by drug users as war correspondents.”
Groups across Canada
Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs is a group of people with lived experience of drug use; they emphasize the need for direct involvement of PWUD in policy making.
ONPUD- Ontario Network of People Who Use Drugs is a provincial association with a membership of persons with lived/living experience who work on a multidisciplinary team to inform and shape drug policy through advising, consultation, activism, and membership capacity building.
Toronto Harm Reduction Alliance is a coalition of people who use drugs, workers, students, researchers, and allies. We are advocates working to end prohibition and save lives.
Substance User Network of the Atlantic Region. The Substance User Network of the Atlantic Region (SUNAR) is a group by and for people with lived & living experience of criminalized drug use. We keep each other safe by drawing attention to the toxic drug supply, doing outreach in our local communities, spreading the word about harm reduction and we demand to be treated with dignity and respect.
Reading / To Watch
What Does “Lived Experience” Really Mean?
Connecting to Culture videos from First Nations Health Authority are teaching tools intended to support discussions in First Nations communities about harm reduction, substance use and stigma.
Peer to Peer: Starting a Local Group or Drug User Organization
The Opioid Chapters presents stories of 11 people living on the front lines of a constantly shifting opioid landscape in Ontario.
Engaging People Who Have Used Illicit Drugs in Qualitative Research
A Guide for Paying Peer Research Assistants – Challenges and Opportunities
Decriminalization in BC: January 2023-January 2026
Starting January 31, 2023, adults over 18 years old in BC will not be subject to criminal charges for the personal possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs. Health Canada has granted an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to the Province of BC. until January 31, 2026. Visit BC Government site to learn more. People with lived experience lead the way in responding to the toxic drug poisoning crisis; see groups in section above. Our monthly Substance Use News will feature updates on the impact of decriminalization as they evolve.
An Urgent Response to a Continuing Crisis: BC Coroner Death Review Panel Report.
Decriminalization: The Facts This information sheet from First Nations Health Authority breaks down some myths, about what decriminalization is and isn’t.
Decriminalization in BC The BC Centre for Disease Control offers information and frequently asked questions (FAQs) for local governments on decriminalization of people who use drugs.
Developments:
Mixed reviews as BC significantly rolls back drug decriminalization
April 2024: 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.
Federal addictions minister says BC public decriminalization reversal under review
April 2024: The federal minister for addictions and mental health says it’s too early to draw conclusions about drug decriminalization after British Columbia asked Ottawa to scale back its pilot to help curb concerns over public drug use. Ya’ara Saks noted Monday that the province is only a year into its three-year pilot project, which began in early 2023. On Friday April 26, 2024, BC Premier David Eby asked Health Canada to amend that exemption order to recriminalize the use of those drugs in public spaces such as hospitals and restaurants. “Illicit drugs and hard drugs should not be used where kids are playing where patients are recovering where a community life is lived,” said Eby.
Drug decriminalization is not to blame for all of our social woes
April 2024: 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.
Premier Eby underscores ‘fundamental’ disagreement with BC chief coroner on safe supply
January, 2024: BC Premier David Eby has rebuffed the province’s retiring chief coroner’s swansong pleas for non-prescription safe supply of drugs, calling it a “fundamental issue” of disagreement on how to curb the toxic drug crisis. Lapointe had said that asking doctors to prescribe a safer supply of drugs would not address the crisis that has claimed almost 14,000 lives since the province declared a public health emergency in April 2016, noting that only about 5,000 people had access to prescribed safer supply.
BC asks appeal court to reconsider decision allowing drug consumption in public spaces
January 2024: BC’s attorney general is appealing a court decision that put the brakes on the province’s plans to crack down on drug use in public spaces. BC Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson issued an injunction staying the implementation of the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Services Act after an application from the Harm Reduction Nurses Association — a national advocacy group. In a notice of appeal filed Monday, the province cited five possible grounds for appeal — claiming Hinkson’s order was too broad and his conclusions were “not firmly grounded on the evidence that was before him.”
Unregulated Drug Deaths 2023 Summary
January 2024: The Summary on unregulated drug deaths for 2023 reports that this is the highest number of suspected deaths ever recorded in a year; 5% higher than 2022. This summary marks the deaths of 2,511 people lost by their communities, families, and friends. BC’s Chief Coroner, Lisa Lapointe commented to press that “We can take measures to save lives or we can continue to count the dead.”
Outpouring of Solidarity as BC Prosecutors Push Back DULF Case
January 2024: Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum, co-founders of Vancouver compassion club Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) were scheduled for their first court date on January 16, but at the last minute, prosecutors pushed it back. Under BC law, police don’t press charges in criminal matters, they recommend charges for review by prosecutors, often called Crown counsel, who then approve them or decline to pursue them. While the court date postponement means that Nyx and Kalicum remain in legal limbo, their charges neither approved nor dismissed by prosecutors, allies of DULF said it could be a sign that the Crown isn’t certain of its legal standing in the case.
BC study on lives saved by prescribing opioids a ‘watershed moment’ in safer supply debate: researcher
January 2024: People with addiction who received a safer supply of prescribed opioids were 61 per cent less likely to die than those without access to it, according to a BC study published this week in the British Medical Journal. Researchers say it’s a “watershed moment” in the debate over safe supply, which has become a political football with accusations from BC United and Conservative politicians that prescribed opioids are being diverted to people without a prescription and actually contributing to overdose deaths.
Injunction against BC’s new public drug use law sparks mixed reaction
January 2024: On December 29th [2023] BC Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson issued an injunction against the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act scheduled to come into effect on January 1st, 2024 following passage in late fall of 2023. THe Harm Reduction Nurses Association filed a legal challenge in late November to prevent the law from coming into force. HRNA has also asked the BC Supreme Court to declare the law unconstitutional. Corey Ranger, HNRN’s president, welcomed the ruling.
BC study on lives saved by prescribing opioids a ‘watershed moment’ in safer supply debate: researcher
January 2024: People with addiction who received a safer supply of prescribed opioids were 61 per cent less likely to die than those without access to it, according to a BC study published this week in the British Medical Journal. Researchers say it’s a “watershed moment” in the debate over safe supply, which has become a political football with accusations from BC United and Conservative politicians that prescribed opioids are being diverted to people without a prescription and actually contributing to overdose deaths.
2023
As BC’s chief coroner retires in frustration, we should all lament the province’s drug crisis response
December 2023: In the dozen or so years that she’s been chief coroner of British Columbia, Lisa Lapointe has had a more disquieting view of the province’s drug crisis than almost anyone else. She will retire in February and has not been shy in recent media interviews in expressing her disappointment with the provincial government’s response to the drug crisis. She pointedly criticized the lack of a co-ordinated response to the drug disaster. “We see all these ad hoc announcements but sadly what we haven’t seen is a thoughtful, evidence-based, data-driven plan for how we are going to reduce the number of deaths in our province.”
BC’s chief coroner exits, frustrated and disappointed with government’s response to overdose crisis
December 2023: British Columbia’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says she’s a hopeful person, but she is leaving her office frustrated and disappointed. Angry, even, with drug overdose deaths expected to hit record levels this year. Ms. Lapointe has been at the forefront of the province’s battle against toxic drug overdoses for years, but she said the public health emergency that was declared in 2016 never received a “a co-ordinated response commensurate with the size of this crisis.”
BC pares back pilot project with bill to ban illicit drug use in many public spaces
October 2023: British Columbia has announced major changes to its drug decriminalization policy, rolling back provisions that removed criminal penalties and police involvement for illicit drug use in many outdoor spaces. The move is a response to pushback from municipalities that expressed concern over public drug use, with some having enacted local bylaws to restrict it.
Decriminalization, safe supply already saving lives in BC, contrary to backlash claims: addictions Carolyn Bennett
July 2023: BC’s chief coroner, provincial health officer and representative for children and youth have attempted to debunk concerns raised by federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, local elected officials and some addiction specialists in recent months that safe supply is “flooding” B.C. with drugs and worsening the toxic drug crisis. Bennett said Thursday she fears the “anecdotal” attacks, like Poilievre’s defeated motion in the House of Commons to pull funding from harm reduction like safe supply, discourage people from accessing life-saving harm reduction.
No evidence decriminalization has led to increase in public drug use: BC addictions minister
July 2023: BC’s minister of mental health and addictions says there’s no evidence suggesting decriminalization has led to an increase in the consumption of illicit drugs in public spaces. Jennifer Whiteside held a series of meetings with politicians, harm-reduction organizations and local stakeholders in Nelson in early July to address community concerns about public drug use.
Decriminalization begins in BC as coroners service releases overdose death data:
January 2023: Dean Wilson, who started working as a peer facilitator at the BC Centre on Substance Use in 2017 as a heroin user, said decriminalization is a welcome change to prevent drug users’ interactions with police.
Decriminalizing hard drugs in BC will help reduce the stigma of substance abuse*
A recent study found that nearly half of respondents reported perceiving stigma because of their addiction from friends and family, from work colleagues and even from medical providers. In some cases, fear of negative opinions from people in their social circles is one reason people who know they need help with substance use do not pursue treatment.
* (sic)
As Decriminalization Begins in British Columbia, Activists Watch Warily
January 2023: Now that BC’s decriminalization model has taken effect, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) is among those planning to watch closely how it plays out in practice.
It’s the ‘Eve of Decriminalization’ for Drug Possession in BC
January 2023: “There is a lot of uncertainty on this ‘eve of decriminalization,’” said Amber Streukens, a Nelson-based organizer with the Rural Empowered Drug User Network and harm reduction worker for ANKORS West (AIDS Network Kootenay Outreach and Support Society, which serves communities including Nelson, Trail, Castlegar and Kaslo). “The measure is lacking in a lot of ways and what’s going to happen feels unknowable.”
BC takes action to save lives, build new connections of care with drug decriminalization
January 2023: Statement from BC’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. The Province is taking a critical step to end the shame and stigma that prevents people with substance-use challenges from reaching out for life-saving help as B.C.’s decriminalization of people who use drugs comes into effect on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023.
It’s Time for Drug Decriminalization – Done Right – Now
January 2023: From HIV Legal Network: This week, we are watching with great interest as the possession of some drugs in small amounts will finally be decriminalized in the Province of British Columbia. While in theory a positive step forward in the quest to end an escalating drug poisoning crisis that is driven by bad drug policy, we remain deeply concerned that this “decriminalization” model neglects the lived realities of those most at risk for drug poisoning and will continue to criminalize many people who use drugs in the province.
Police given 45-minute training video and infographics as decriminalization set to begin in BC
January 2023: During a technical briefing Monday January 31, 2023, reporters learned the province has developed a 45-minute recorded presentation on the decriminalization pilot project as part of the first phase of training for the province’s more than 9,000 officers on the streets.
BC Decrim Threshold Was Set for Police, Not People Who Use Drugs
January 2023: British Columbia is about to become the first Canadian province to decriminalize personal possession of some state-banned drugs—a move that media and government officials are widely touting as progressive. As drug users who work in frontline harm reduction, we do not share this view. the threshold of personal possession at a cumulative 2.5 grams, which doesn’t reflect true buy-in from the people it purports to serve.
Grief and Support
Reading/ To Watch
Healing Indigenous Hearts. The Healing Indigenous Hearts Facilitators’ Guidebook was developed for Indigenous – First Nations, Inuit and Metis people who have lost loved ones as a result of substance-use-related causes – and wish to facilitate a support group with other Indigenous people who have suffered this kind of loss.
Creating Cultures of Wellness: This video series with Vikki Reynolds can be viewed in separate parts or altogether to help teams build resilence and rediscover their strengths.
Holding on with Letting Go – Vikki Reyolds
“Leaning In” as Imperfect Allies in Community Work – Vikki Reynolds
Resisting Burnout – Vikki Reynolds
Organizing Our Grief: A Collaboration in Response to the Overdose Crisis This report was developed as a case study / guide for organizations, organizers, and groups (in and beyond the visual arts) might meaningfully engage with people who use drugs. Wish You Were Here, Wish Here Was Better (WYWH, WHWB) was a weeklong public art project and program series organized by community organizer and scholar Zoë Dodd, artist and Plains Cree health promoter Les Harper, writer Theodore (ted) Kerr, and curator-scholar Ellyn Walker. The project created space for grief, solidarity, and mobilization amongst people affected by the ongoing overdose crisis and its related systemic impacts, including precarity, houselessness, and criminalization.
Psychological First Aid: Guide for Field Workers: This resource from the World Health Organization explains a framework for supporting people in ethical ways that respect their dignity, culture and abilities. Despite its name, psychological first aid covers both social and psychological support.
Stories to support grieving children: picture books to support kids 4-10 who are faced with the loss of a loved one from substance use as well as suicide.
Harm Reduction and Decriminalization
People
The groups listed above in People with Lived Experience are leaders in harm reduction and decriminalization advocacy. Other groups include:
Moms Stop the Harm is is a network of Canadian families impacted by substance-use-related harms and deaths that advocates for the change of failed drug policies, provides peer support to grieving families, and assists those with loved ones who use or have used substances.
HIV Legal Network is “committed to reducing the harms associated with drugs and the harms caused by harsh, misguided drug laws. Instead of prohibition and punishment, drug policy must be grounded in sound public health evidence, and in the principle of the universality of human rights.” Read about their drug policy work.
The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition is a non-partisan, evidence-based policy advocacy organization comprised of more than 50 organizations and over 7,000 individuals striving to end the harms of drug prohibition. It operates as a project within Simon Fraser University in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
National Safer Supply Community of Practice (NSS-CoP) is a knowledge exchange initiative led by London InterCommunity Health Centre, in partnership with the Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs and the Alliance for Healthier Communities. Its goal is to scale up safer supply programs across Canada.
Drug Policy Alliance: US-based non-governmental organization promoting drug policies that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.
Harm Reduction International is dedicated to reducing the negative health, social and legal impacts of drug use and drug policy. The organization is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Watch, Read, Listen
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.
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. (2024)
History of Drug Policy in Canada (Canadian Drug Policy Coalition)
Prescribed Safer Supply Programs: Emerging Evidence (National Safer Supply Community of Practice)
Harm Reduction Clinical Resources (BC Centre for Disease Control)
Canadian guideline for the clinical management of high-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder
Watch: How to Spot Someone So They Never Use Alone Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs
Reframing Diversion for Health Care Providers: Frequently Asked Questions (National Safer Supply Community of Practice)
Harm Reduction is not a Metaphor: Living in the 21st Century with Drugs, Intimacy, and Activism
Crackdown podcast: “The drug war, covered by drug users.” Voices from the Downtown Eastside in so-called Vancouver.
Narcotica podcast. This podcast from the US is about “drugs and the people who use them.”
Substance Use Patterns and Safer Supply Preferences Among People Who Use Drugs in British Columbia
This report presents the findings of a multiyear study which aimed to understand the needs and preferences of people who use drugs from the illegal market and safer supply.
Harm Reduction Fundamentals: A toolkit for service providers This CATIE toolkit was developed in partnership with a pan-Canadian working group of organizations and individuals with expertise in harm reduction.
Men in Trades: The opioid overdose crisis in Canada. In Canada, 3 out of 4 opioid related deaths are men, and 30 to 50% of those employed worked in trades at the time of their death. Information for communities and resources for employers.
Filter Harm Reduction Journal, run by a non-profit whose mission is to advocate through journalism for rational and compassionate approaches to drug use, drug policy and human rights.
BC Coroners Service Death Review Panel: A Review of Illicity Drug Toxicity Deaths (2022)
- BC Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction; Ministry of Health response to Coroners Service Report
- Further communication and response to this report can be found on this page.
Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health provides people living in Canada with the information they need to make well-informed and responsible decisions about their alcohol consumption. (2023)
Decriminalization for Simple Possession of Illicit Drugs: Exploring Impacts on Public Safety & Policing: The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) announced that the association is recommending that all police agencies in Canada recognize substance abuse and addiction as a public health issue to help reduce drug overdoses and is endorsing the decriminalization of personal possession of illicit drugs.
Practical Drug Decriminalization in British Columbia. “While the possession of illicit drugs for personal use (“simple possession”) is a criminal offence, individual provinces still have significant powers to redress some of the harms of drug prohibition.In light of the federal government’s failure to meaningfully reform drug policy, provinces like B.C.can and must take legal steps to effectively (“de facto”) decriminalize simple possession by re-directing police resources away from its criminal enforcement.” Pivot Legal Society
The Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia (NNPBC) and the Harm Reduction Nurses Association (HRNA) call for the decriminalization of people who use drugs in BC. “As nurses who work in B.C. and provide frontline care in the midst of this public health emergency, we see firsthand the impact of criminalization on our clients, on their families, on our practice and our communities.”
Response to the Opioid Overdose Crisis in Vancouver Coastal Health. Vancouver Coastal Health Chief Medical Health Office Dr. Patricia Daly calls for decriminalization of personal possession of illegal drugs. “It is an acknowledgement that psychoactive substances, including opioids, will continue to be used by people for a variety of reasons, and the illegal nature of these substances is the primary risk factor for overdose death” (p. 29).
Stopping the Harm: Decriminalization of People Who Use Drugs in BC. In presenting this 2019 report, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry cites two provincial mechanisms that could allow for de facto decriminalization of personal drug use. The first would use the Police Act to allow the minister of public safety and solicitor general to set broad provincial priorities with respect to people who use drugs (Stopping the Harm, p. 5). The second option, which also would use the Police Act, would add a provision preventing any member of a police force in BC from using resources for enforcement of simple possession offences (Stopping the Harm, p. 38).
Harm Reduction Satellite Sites: A Guide for Operating Harm Reduction Hubs from the Homes of People Who Use Drugs
This guide from CATIE was developed to be helpful for community-based service providers who would like to develop this kind of programming, or explore other models of providing health and harm reduction services to people who use drugs, particularly in residential and other community settings where they are most needed. (2020)
Operational Guidance for Implementation of Managed Alcohol for Vulnerable Populations, BC Centre on Substance Use (2020)
The Harm Reduction Model of Drug Addiction Treatment TED talk with Dr. Mark Tyndall. This is a great piece on harm reduction that’s scientific, compassionate and realistic. (15 minutes)
Explaining Harm Reduction with Hardhats, Seatbelts, and Sunscreen: Two minute stick-figure animation explains harm reduction principles and benefits.
Indigenizing Harm Reduction: The First Nations Health Authority Indigenous Wellness team explores what harm reduction looks like from an Indigenous perspective, and how they facilitate dialogue with First Nations communities around the province. Scroll to bottom of page for video and slides.
What is Harm Reduction? This explains the set of strategies and philosophies about reducing harm related to drug use and building a community of respect and support for people who use drugs.
Drug Checking as a Harm Reduction Intervention – Evidence Review Report (BC Centre on Substance Use, 2017)
Harm Reduction Saves Lives (Report, 2017)
Drug Poisoning Prevention, Care and Recovery
Toward the Heart: This website was developed by the Provincial Harm Reduction program. It provides Naloxone information (and other drugs), training, and information on becoming a Take Home Naloxone site.
First Nations Health Authority Harm Reduction Information
Provincial Episodic Overdose Prevention Service (eOPS) Protocol
Naloxone 101 Training course This is a self-guided, interactive course on how to recognize and respond to a drug poisoning, including how to use naloxone. This course takes approximately one hour to complete. From Toward the Heart.
The Safer Bathroom Toolkit
Even when supervised consumption or overdose prevention site services are available, some people will use substances in bathrooms. There are ways of making bathrooms safer for people who use substances. This toolkit will help you to do that.
Addiction Practice Pod is a podcast focusing on substance use care for health care providers in British Columbia and Yukon.
Find Take Home Naloxone kits in your area
List of overdose prevention and supervised consumption services in BC
The Fight Against Stigma
Across the country there are ongoing conversations about how we can reduce stigma. All of the people listed in sections above are working on this and we encourage you to look at their resources. The select reading below is just a sampling; we suggest you use your favourite search engine and “stigma against people who use drugs” for news coverage, blogs, policy comment, and more.
Northern Health’s Stop Stigma videos
Stigma (Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addition)
Stigma Primer for Journalists (Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addition)
The Way We Depict Drugs, and People Who Use Them, Must Change
Stigma, Drug Addiction and Treatment Utilisation: PWUD Perspective
The World Drug Perception Problem: Countering Prejudices About People who Use Drugs
Why We Should Say Someone Is A ‘Person With An Addiction,’ Not An Addict
Treatment Resources and Care
BC Centre on Substance Use Care Guidance:
“Working Together to Reduce Harm” is the motto of the Toward the Heart site from the provincial harm reduction program includes information on finding overdose prevention sites, what different drugs do, support for people who use drugs and how to report bad dope.
HealthLink BC provides free, non-emergency information including substance use or mental health. Alternate is a call to 811.
Research Centres and Reports
Research Centres
Toward The Heart Research Projects (BC CDC Harm Reduction Services)
Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research
Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine
Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
Reports and Updates
Data, surveillance and research on opioids and other substances Public Health Agency of Canada
Statistical Reports on Deaths in British Columbia
BC Coroners Service News – ongoing updates
BC Government page on substance use resources
The BC Centre for Disease Control provides Harm Reduction Reports that include coroners reports and maps showing overdose response from first responders.
Provincial Government Reports
2022: Closing Gaps, Reducing Barriers: Expanding the Response to the Toxic Drug and Overdose Crisis (Select Standing Committee on Health)
2022: BC Coroners Service Death Review Panel: A Review of Illicity Drug Toxicity Deaths
2019: Stopping the Harm: Decriminalization of people who use drugs in BC
2018: Responding to B.C.’s Illegal Drug Overdose Epidemic. Progress Update
2017: Fifth Progress Update on B.C.’s Response to the Opioid Overdose Public Health Emergency:
2017: BC’s Opioid Overdose Response One-Year Update
March 2017: Progress Update on B.C.’s Response to the Opioid Overdose Public Health Emergency
January 2017: Progress Update on B.C.’s Response to the Opioid Overdose Public Health Emergency
November 2016: Progress Update on B.C.’s Response to the Opioid Overdose Public Health Emergency
September 2016: Progress Update on B.C.’s Response to the Opioid Overdose Public Health Emergency
Community Recommendations and Reports
Decriminalization for Simple Possession of Illicit Drugs: Exploring Impacts on Public Safety and Policing, 2020
Special Purpose Committee on the Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs
The Global State of Harm Reduction, 2020
Now in its the seventh edition, the Global State of Harm Reduction 2020 is the most comprehensive global mapping of harm reduction responses to drug use, HIV and viral hepatitis. Visit Harm Reduction International site.
Findings and Analysis for Overdose Prevention Society Data for Good Vancouver, 2018
Close to Home: Families & Caregivers Set priorities for addressing substance use addiction in BC BC Centre on Substance Use, April 2018
The Opioid Crisis in North America (2017)
Opioid epidemic causing rise in hepatitis C infections and other serious illnesses (2017)
Harm Reduction Saves Lives (2017)
The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act – what you need to know (2017)
BC Overdose Action Exchange II Report BC Centre for Disease Control, August 2017
The-Opioid-Crisis-The-Need-for-Treatment-on-Demand-VPD-2016 , Vancouver Police Department, May 2017
Recommendations of the Mayors’ Task Force on the Opioid Crisis May 2017
The Overdose Crisis – Where To Next? AIDS Vancouver Island, 2017