The Global Commission on Drug Policy has issued recommendations on tackling North America's opioid crisis, calling for the immediate expansion of harm reduction services, the decriminalization and regulation of currently illicit drugs and an initiative to allow interested cities to de facto decriminalize as federal debates over drug policy continue. The position paper, to be released on Monday, comes in advance of the final report of the White House opioid commission, led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, due out in November. [continues 699 words]
The principal initiative undertaken by the Trudeau government has been the legalization of marijuana under tight rules still being elaborated. I have had a good deal of exposure to the American policy of the so-called War on Drugs, from my time dealing with many pushers and users as students for secondary school matriculation when I was in prison in the United States. I had long been a skeptic about the War on Drugs, which has cost the United States over a trillion dollars and caused the imprisonment of more than two million people (but very few of the kingpins), all while illegal drug use has increased appreciably. The price of drugs has not risen much; supply has not been strained, despite increased use among a growing population. [continues 891 words]
Portugal treats addiction as a disease, not a crime. LISBON - On a broken-down set of steps, a 37-year-old fisherman named Mario mixed heroin and cocaine and carefully prepared a hypodermic needle. "It's hard to find a vein," he said, but he finally found one in his forearm and injected himself with the brown liquid. Blood trickled from his arm and pooled on the step, but he was oblivious. "Are you O.K.?" Rita Lopes, a psychologist working for an outreach program called Crescer, asked him. "You're not taking too much?" Lopes monitors Portuguese heroin users like Mario, gently encourages them to try to quit and gives them clean hypodermics to prevent the spread of AIDS. [continues 2049 words]
Many cases unreported due to naloxone distribution, says health official There's likely a large number of unreported opioid overdoses in North Bay. That's because the antidote naloxone is being distributed by pharmacies and front-line organizations to those struggling with addiction, as well as their friends and family members, throughout the community. Kathleen Jodouin, HIV education co-ordinator at the AIDS Committee of North Bay and Area, says her organization has had a take-home naloxone program in place for the past two years. And, she says, the drug, which temporarily reverses the effects of heroin and other opioid drugs, is frequently given out. [continues 602 words]
PATERSON -- About a dozen men and women sat on hard plastic chairs early Wednesday morning inside a conference room at the Well of Hope Drop-In Center on Broadway, where a flat screen television broadcast sports highlights on ESPN. Some came for the free coffee. A sign said the limit was one cup per hour. Others were there to use the showers and toilet facilities. A 57-year-old man who would only give his name as "Julius" was waiting to see a nurse about a blister on his foot. [continues 957 words]
Report puts Brantford at top in province for emergency room visits due to opioid poisoning, A report putting Brantford at the top of the provincial list for emergency room visits due to opioid overdoses is a "wake-up call," says Ruth Gratton. "I think this report validates all of the hard work that is being done in the community and will serve as justification for ramping up those efforts," Gratton, manager of infectious disease at the Brant County Health Unit, said Friday. [continues 1187 words]
NDP leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh's recent promise that, as prime minister, he would move quickly to drop criminal penalties for possession or purchase of small amounts of all drugs will no doubt seem radical to many. Broad-based decriminalization would be a stark reversal after decades of increasingly punitive policies. And this would certainly add a layer of complication to the already-complicated task of legalizing marijuana, which Ottawa and the provinces are struggling to do by next summer. The Trudeau government's current position on decriminalization is understandable: Ottawa already has its hands full with pot. [continues 862 words]
Harm reduction is one kind of treatment approach for helping people with substance abuse disorders and it can be confusing for people not familiar with it. "Sometimes people think it's abstinence versus harm reduction but that isn't true," said Laura Chapman, health promotion specialist with Mental Health and Addiction Services. "Harm reduction absolutely includes abstinence." Chapman and many other clinical therapists, counsellors and other professionals working directly with people suffering from substance abuse disorders feel harm reduction is an important tool. [continues 244 words]
A federal New Democratic leadership hopeful has pledged to make it party policy to decriminalize petty drug possession if he is elected leader, supporting calls by an increasing number of health officials who say it would help lift the stigma around addiction. Jagmeet Singh made his pledge on Sunday at an NDP leadership debate in Vancouver, a city that had recorded nearly 250 suspected overdose deaths by the end of August. Across British Columbia, 876 people died of illicit-drug overdoses from January through July of this year. [continues 765 words]
According to Dr. Michael O'Malley and Dr. Kiri Simms (via CBC), marijuana-induced psychosis has increased in the last 10 years. I do not dispute their claims. THC in pot sold on the street contributes to the problem. In fact, as with any illegal street-sold drug, the more potent the active ingredient, the better for sales. Yet, it's highly unlikely that the seller is concerned about the amount of THC in the pot he sells on the street, except for repeat sales. [continues 312 words]
An opioid crisis is bringing together friends and family members of overdose victims who want to support others going through the same pain. Fort McMurray residents Mari-Lee Paluszak, 55, and Holly Meints, 51, both lost sons to accidental overdoses last year. Both attended Overdose Awareness Day at the Wood Buffalo Regional Library last Thursday to help put a face to the drug overdose problem, and to promote a support group for people suffering the same grief as their own. Their new group, On A Dragonfly's Wings, is meant to provide mutual support for grieving family members of overdose victims. [continues 726 words]
Discarded needles in the spotlight as Edmonton tackles overdose crisis, safe injection sites Cardboard boxes filled with syringes fill every nook and cranny of the Streetworks office at Boyle Street Community Services. They're stacked on top of cabinets, in corners and underneath a table in the centre of the brightly lit office. Unboxed sharps, wrapped in plastic, are stored in bins along a counter where people who use drugs can pick up clean supplies. The boxes go "wherever we can stuff them," said Marliss Taylor, program manager at Streetworks. Last year, the service distributed a record two-and-a-quarter million syringes through its needle exchange van and exchange sites throughout the city. The goal, Taylor said, is to "flood the market" with clean needles, reducing the health impacts of intravenous drug use. [continues 621 words]
There are a lot of very smart people in North Bay. It would be interesting to see if the bright lights here can find an opportunity hiding in the weeds to solve the opioid crisis. And I'm not referring to emergency funding injections or quick-fix policy. More than 700 health-care professionals urged the province this week to declare an emergency so more funding can flow to Ontario's front-line programs. Overdose prevention sites, they say, need a boost to stem the tide as deaths are mounting beyond even the HIV pandemic decades ago. [continues 651 words]
Awareness day: City police station flags lowered to remember those lost to drugs, alcohol Everyone has a role in battling the stigma that can be even more damaging to addicts than drugs themselves, the medical officer of health said as city police hosted an event to mark International Overdose Awareness Day on Thursday. Directing judgements and negative attitudes towards those suffering from addiction only perpetuate fear and avoidance, and as a result, poorer outcomes for them, said Dr. Rosana Salvaterra of Peterborough Public Health. [continues 453 words]
With too many drug overdoses and deaths, best way still to reduce risk is abstinence Marking an International Overdose Awareness Day, as was done in Victoria with a ceremony and vigil in Centennial Square on Aug. 31, might seem moot, as few are unaware of the devastation and sadness caused in recent years by the use of drugs. But this day not only brought light to the worst human health crisis in B.C. since the AIDS epidemic, it memorialized those who have died seeking an escape from the pain of life through ingesting drugs. [continues 266 words]
Advocate sees a role for public health nurses in fighting opioid crisis in rural communities The opioid crisis in St. John's is far from over, and a community advocate wants to see changes. "We see people every day who are at risk," said Tree Walsh, the harm reduction manager at the Safe Works Access Program (SWAP) for the AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador. "We're trying to save lives, and we're trying to prevent deaths, but as soon as the pharmaceutical supply of opioids dries up, which is happening now things are going to get so much worse." [continues 559 words]
Public health researchers behind Edmonton's effort to develop supervised drug consumption sites say they have a plan to study how the yet-to-be-approved facilities affect both clients and communities. Assuming the four sites win approval from Health Canada and begin operating, a robust evaluation process will be needed to gauge the benefits and residents' reactions to the facilities, the researchers said in a new report. The evaluation will be conducted by the University of Alberta's School of Public Health, with Elaine Hyshka serving as the lead. [continues 153 words]
Funding set for advanced drug-testing system The planned supervised injection site at the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre will include world-class drug-testing technology. With funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the program will be able to operate a mass spectrometry machine, which can determine the chemical makeup of users' drugs, Lynne Leonard of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network announced Thursday. Drug-testing services are themselves rare, and it is even rarer for harm-reduction organizations to offer testing as technically advanced as mass spectrometry. The system at Sandy Hill will be the first of its kind in Ontario. [continues 87 words]
There is no silver bullet for North America's fentanyl crisis, according to the architect of Portugal's drug-policy framework, widely considered the most progressive in the world. "It is a difficult problem," Dr. Joao Goulao told the Straight by phone. "I have no magical insight for it." Illicit drugs are on track to kill more than 1,500 people in B.C. this year, up from an annual average of 204 deaths recorded between 2001 and 2010. So far in 2017, the B.C. Coroners Service has detected fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, in 78 percent of drug fatalities. [continues 727 words]
Community marks International Overdose Awareness Day for first time A total of 48 opioid-related deaths have been reported in Chatham-Kent between 2005 and 2016, according to Public Health Ontario, but it's likely that number is higher. Jordynne Lindsay, a registered nurse with the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit, believes the number of local deaths could be under-reported due to a difference in the coding used by the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance emergency department, Chatham-Kent EMS and Chatham-Kent police. [continues 512 words]
