As deadly fentanyl fuels a public health crisis, Free Press reporter Jennifer Bieman reveals what you should know about common London street drugs Forget the old adage that what you don't know, can't hurt you. When it comes to street drugs, what you don't know can kill you. That was the thrust of a rare public health warning - three health agencies and London police joined in its release - last week in London, when authorities stressed that the latest villain in Canada's opioid drug crisis, deadly fentanyl, is turning up in other illegal street drugs. [continues 1350 words]
Making everything legal 'crazy,' but might help, city officials say Decriminalizing all illegal drugs - not just marijuana - may help decrease the devastating effects of drug use and addiction in Ottawa, city officials said Wednesday. They were responding to a suggestion by Toronto's medical officer of health that such a drastic move could help address Canada's spiralling opioid crisis. Dr. Eileen De Villa told reporters last week the current approach to drugs in her city and across the country "doesn't seem to be having the desired impact." [continues 921 words]
Re Rethink before decriminalizing drugs, DiManno, Aug. 7 Rosie DiManno's column is well-reasoned but wrong. This century's problems aren't due to irrationality, not that there isn't a lot of that to go around, but rather to ignoring the facts and evidence. There have been endless studies concluding that criminal sanctions have no impact on people's behaviour, yet that doesn't stop people from arguing the opposite. Nor does the fact that increasingly harsh penalties adopted in the U.S. have reduced neither drug use nor drug deaths. [continues 78 words]
On medical marijuana, the public is way ahead of officialdom. Statewide, 71 percent of Florida voters voted in favor of the medical marijuana amendment last November. In Flagler County, the margin was the same. In Volusia County, 73 percent voted to approve. Overwhelming support. Particularly in a state like Florida which is known sharp political divisions on most issues. Even so, the Legislature was so reluctant to pass legislation putting the amendment into effect that nothing was approved during the regular spring session. [continues 541 words]
Re Think twice before decriminalizing drugs, DiManno, Aug. 7 Citing Portugal's experience, Rosie DiManno recently argued that decriminalizing drugs isn't a solution to dealing with the opioid overdose crisis in Canada. This is not rooted in fact. Our current crisis stems from a deadly, illegal drug supply. If Canada decriminalized drugs and created a legal, regulated supply, fewer people would die. After Portugal decriminalized drug use in 2001, there was a remarkable increase in uptake of treatment, and drug-caused deaths and HIV infection from injection drug use plummeted. [continues 120 words]
NEW YORK -- A safe haven where drug users inject themselves with heroin and other drugs has been quietly operating in the United States for the past three years, a report reveals. None were known to exist in the US until the disclosure in a medical journal, although several states and cities are pushing to establish these so-called supervised injection sites, where users can shoot up under the care of trained staff who can treat an overdose if necessary. In the report released Tuesday, two researchers said they've been evaluating an underground safe place that opened in 2014. As a condition of their research, they didn't disclose the location of the facility -- which is unsanctioned and potentially illegal -- or the social service agency running it. [continues 547 words]
On top of city, region and provincial efforts, Matt Brown makes new bid to tackle local crisis, issues Another drug crisis, another drug strategy. In the midst of an ongoing London drug strategy, a regional drug strategy and a provincial drug strategy - none of them completed yet - the city's mayor wants his own drug strategy. But the new effort will be nimble with a concrete focus, battling opioid overdoses and other problems in large part through the establishment of a supervised injection site, city health leaders promise. [continues 571 words]
Council committee backs mayor's crisis working group. London's response to the opioid crisis might become nearly as complex as the addictions that require it. City politicians voted in favour of yet another group focusing on solutions to opioid abuse Tuesday, but several admitted they were unclear on what, exactly, they were supporting. "I need to know this is going to be effective," Coun. Phil Squire told the community and protective services committee. His motion to send the plan back to staff for clarification was narrowly defeated. [continues 429 words]
Safe injection sites for Windsor could be part of a "comprehensive solution" as the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit embarks on a study of how best to tackle illegal drug use and its ensuing complications. Acting-medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said the solution must address broader issues of mental health, social support, treatment options, enforcement issues and could possibly include a supervised injection site in the city. "Right now, we are at the very preliminary stage to even understand the potential action items needed in our community," Ahmed said. "When we have that, we will be in a much better position to say if this would be a good thing or a bad thing. [continues 272 words]
Health officials say crisis worsening despite bid to end it Island Health was the only health authority in B.C. to see an increase in overdose deaths in June, according to statistics released Friday. At least 23 people on Vancouver Island died from an illicit-drug overdose in June, up from 11 in May, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. This brings the total to 123 deaths in the first half of this year. The total for all of 2016 was 160. [continues 554 words]
Vancouver Coastal Health will open the doors to Vancouver's newest supervised injection site on Friday in the Downtown Eastside. The Powell Street Getaway, located near Oppenheimer Park at 528 Powell St., will be the third such facility in Vancouver. The Dr. Peter Centre, an HIV-AIDS clinic, has offered supervised injection along with other services in Vancouver's West End since 2002, while the Downtown Eastside's Insite facility was the first sanctioned supervised injection site in North America when it opened in 2003. [continues 304 words]
Medical marijuana/medical cannabis has shown both anecdotal and clinical evidence that it can be used to manage and or alleviate symptoms of many illnesses, such as neuropathic pain, arthritis pain, multiple sclerosis, HIV, bone or inflammatory cancer pain, fibromyalgia, Crohn's disease, colitis, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, insomnia and headaches. There are others. There should be no problem with this as long as its use is managed by your doctor or pharmacist. Now, recreational marijuana could certainly create problems, especially when people are permitted to smoke it. The smoke will bother other human beings, especially the elderly and people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or any respiratory disease, and heart disease patients. Recreational purposes are just a means for people to have a high. There will be more crime and loss of life if this is legalized. It should not be OK for the government to OK this problem, and not in workplaces either. Lydia Parsons St. John's [end]
Vancouver drug users' support group spearheaded first safe-injection site in North America A copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms graces a wall around the corner from where a woman lies on the floor as a needle full of heroin is injected into her neck. She rises quickly, sweeps her long brown hair over one shoulder and sits on a chair as a man is handed a needle by another woman also wanting his help at an overdose prevention site located at the office of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. [continues 886 words]
Thirty-eight percent of the 17,591 patients registered in Hawaii's medical marijuana program were located on the Big Island. Recently released data by the state Department of Health indicates the trend of medical marijuana patients in Hawaii is changing. Thirty-eight percent of the 17,591 patients registered in Hawaii's medical marijuana program were located on Hawaii Island, according to the data released Friday. That's down from 40 percent in March and 42 percent in December. Meanwhile, the percentage of patients hailing from Oahu has jumped from 25 percent in December to 29 percent last month, a more than 1,300-patient increase. The Big Island's patient count increased by about 300 people in that same time, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. [continues 278 words]
LOWELL, Mass. -- They hide in weeds along hiking trails and in playground grass. They wash into rivers and float downstream to land on beaches. They pepper baseball dugouts, sidewalks and streets. Syringes left by drug users amid the heroin crisis are turning up everywhere. In Portland, Maine, officials have collected more than 700 needles so far this year, putting them on track to handily exceed the nearly 900 gathered in all of 2016. In March alone, San Francisco collected more than 13,000 syringes, compared with only about 2,900 in the same month in 2016. [continues 709 words]
Efforts underway to establish a new needle exchange site in the city The North Parry Sound District Health Unit indicated in a release Friday that harm reduction services, including the needle exchange program, continue to operate in the community and that work is underway to find ways to further increase access. The release comes ahead of the closure at the end of the month of a key needle exchange site located at the Nipissing Detoxification and Substance Abuse Program on King Street. It's one of three exchange sites in the city. [continues 391 words]
A copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms graces a wall around the corner from where a woman lies on the floor as a needle full of heroin is injected into her neck. She rises quickly, sweeps her long brown hair over one shoulder and sits on a chair as a man is handed a needle by another woman also wanting his help at an overdose prevention site located at the office of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. [continues 720 words]
Medical-cannabis patients who use illegal cannabis dispensaries instead of turning to other legal and black-market sources do so because they feel safe at these shops and like that they have reliable supplies of the specific strains they want, according to new research from the University of British Columbia. Rielle Capler, a PhD student and the study's lead author, said the results can help give Ottawa and provincial governments an idea of what consumers want as they look toward legalizing the drug some time next year. [continues 564 words]
