Fentanyl. The drug is one that most people never even heard of until a few years ago. Now it strikes fear into the hearts of public health officials, youth workers, parents and others. A few grains of fentanyl, often mixed with another recreational drug without the user's knowledge, can cause death within minutes. It has caused thousands of overdose deaths in Canada and tens of thousands in the U.S., and those numbers are rising rapidly.

How have we dealt with this crisis? The primary strategy has been to supply naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of fentanyl, as widely as possible to police officers, health care providers and others who are likely to encounter people who have overdosed. The use of naloxone is a "harm reduction strategy", intended to reduce the negative consequences of using fentanyl, and it has saved many lives. But it is not enough. Overdose deaths from fentanyl continue to increase even after widespread distribution of naloxone kits. We desperately need another strategy. But what kind of strategy would work?

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Provincial plan aims to fill gap for communities waiting on permanent services for opioid crisis

A temporary supervised drug use site will open its doors in London, Ont., Monday - the first of what is expected to be many under a new provincial emergency-response program that will fill the gap for communities waiting on permanent sites.

Thousands of people are dying from overdoses every year across Canada. In Ontario alone, there were 336 opioid-related deaths between May and July last year, up 68 per cent from that same period the year before. Fentanyl, a drug so potent that mere grains of it can be lethal, was a factor in 67 per cent of those deaths - up from 41 per cent in 2016, and 19 per cent in 2015.

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Councillors might still squabble over budgets, but no one questions the fact that the opioid crisis must be solved

Mark Tyndall stood before Vancouver City Council at a recent meeting to proselytize for his latest harm-reduction scheme: vending machines to dispense opioids to drug users.

"I really wish we could get 50 of these things going in the next year," said Dr. Tyndall, executive medical health director of the BC Centre for Disease Control. "We could supply clean drugs to thousands of people and our overdose numbers would plummet." He plans to start with a pilot project in Vancouver.

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The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit has expanded its harm-reduction strategy related to intravenous drug users.

With opioid addiction an increasing problem in the local area and elsewhere, the health unit has set up three 24-hour disposal sites where users can dispose of old needles.

Needle disposal is a concern for health officials because intravenous drug abuse is highly correlated with blood-borne illnesses, such as HIV and hepatitis.

Used needles that aren't properly disposed pose a hazard to young people who may pick them up or people passing by who are inadvertently stabbed.

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After three years of addressing substance abuse issues while patrolling local high schools, city police community services officer Const. Andy Hatton said he has learned more about how important the lines of communication are between parents and their children.

Drug Awareness Week continues until Friday and city police and health care and public health partners point out it's a ideal time to have serious conversations about the topic.

"Don't be afraid to ask those difficult questions. Don't be afraid to have those sometimes difficult conversations. It's important to know what's going on," the officer said during a Tuesday morning launch for the week at Westmount Pharmacy.

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453 people were revived 'from the brink of death' in 2017, Hamilton city officials hear

More than one-quarter of naloxone kits distributed through Hamilton Public Health last year were used to revive someone from an overdose.

Of the 1,700 opioid antidote kits handed out in 2017, 453 were reportedly used to revive a person.

"Four-hundred and fifty-three people revived from the brink of death. It's hard to imagine that's anything but a success," said Michael Parkinson, who works with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council and the Municipal Drug Strategy Coordinators Network of Ontario.

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'Be it resolved the government of Canada should treat drug abuse as a health issue, expand treatment and harm reduction services and re-classify low-level drug possession and consumption as administrative violations."

That's the concluding sentence of a draft resolution up for possible consideration at the federal Liberals' next policy convention, to be held in Halifax this April. It follows a preamble that suggests Canada should follow the example of Portugal, which in 2001 did just that, decriminalizing possession of relatively small amounts of illicit drugs.

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Committee to look at report next week

Sudbury could become home to a safe injection site.

The community services committee will hear next week about the prospect of undertaking a feasibility study for a site, which will cost $150,000 to $200,000. Council is being asked to endorse the report.

"Through community consultations, under the mental health and compassionate city community priorities, the suggested action includes the study of and possible

establishment of a supervised injection site," a staff report indicates. "In addition, the establishment of (a safe injection site) has been prioritized by the community drug strategy as part of the harm reduction pillar area of responsibility."

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WATERLOO REGION - Regional councillors thanked the public health department for its harm reduction efforts, but said more needs to be done to ensure used needles aren't ending up in public spaces.

"I do appreciate the efforts of public health," Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig said at a council meeting on Tuesday. "But we still have a problem."

The number of needles distributed through Waterloo Region's needle syringe program has been rising steadily in recent years, reaching a peak in 2017, according to a report presented this week.

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Last year was "the most tragic year ever" for illicit drug overdose deaths in B.C., prompting public health officials to push for the decriminalization of opioid possession and consumption to address the fentanyl epidemic.

In 2017, 1,422 people died of illicit drug overdose deaths, up from 993 in 2016, chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said Wednesday.

Victoria had the highest number of overdose deaths on Vancouver Island with 91, behind Vancouver (358) and Surrey (174).

Lapointe said the epidemic in B.C. is "related to uncontrolled illicit fentanyl."

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Decades after Canada abandoned the field, the B.C. Centre on Substance Use is investigating the benefits of drugs like MDMA and psilocybin

In 2011, Gerald Thomas was invited to an Indigenous community in a remote area of British Columbia. Working for the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., he was one of a small team of scientists who observed 12 people take ayahuasca, an Amazonian mixture that induces vivid visual and auditory hallucinations as well as deep emotional and intellectual reflection.

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Health official says region needs to be able to treat more drug users

With the second highest rate of illicit drug overdose deaths in the province last year, the overdose crisis in the Okanagan remains concerning and distressing, says chief medical health officer Trevor Corneil.

"It means that everything we're doing, and we're doing a lot, is clearly not enough," he said.

In the Okanagan, there were 150 overdose deaths, a rate of 40.8 per 100,000 people, in 2017, up from 77 deaths in 2016, a rate of 21.2 per 100,000 people, according to the BC Coroners Service report released Wednesday.

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Edmonton is giving more naloxone kits to those who need them, but much more work is required on the underlying drivers of the fentanyl and opioid crisis.

That was the message left with city council after their quarterly update Wednesday.

Dr. Chris Sikora, Alberta Health Services' medical officer of health, Edmonton zone, said childhood trauma and social factors such as poverty and a lack of housing leave people susceptible to addiction. With fentanyl, those addictions are taking an even more tragic turn.

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'It doesn't help to have conversations that are fear-based'

Nine people died of suspected overdoses in a span of five days last week in the Interior Health region that includes Nelson.

Seven of those deaths were reported to have occurred between Jan. 23 to 26, with two more fatalities added on Jan. 27.

A spokesperson for Interior Health (IH) declined to say what communities the deaths occurred in, citing privacy concerns. The health authority includes 59 municipalities spread throughout the Kootenay Boundary, Okanagan, East Kootenay and Thompson, Cariboo and Shuswap regions.

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OTTAWA - The war on drugs may move to a new battlefield in Canada, if Liberal MPs get their way: the 2019 federal election campaign.

They're pushing the Trudeau government to go much further than legalizing recreational marijuana. In a priority resolution they hope will be adopted at the Liberals' policy convention in April for inclusion in the next election platform, the national caucus is calling on the government to eliminate criminal penalties for simple possession and consumption of all illicit drugs.

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Tell people how to produce pot safely: Health unit

If the federal government will let people grow pot in their homes, Health Canada had better explain how to do it safely.

That's one of the pieces of advice from Ottawa Public Health, months before marijuana hits the legal retail market and the federal government relaxes cannabis laws across the country.

The feds will allow adults to grow up to four marijuana plants in their homes for personal use.

Vera Etches, the acting medical officer of health at OPH, wrote to Health Canada earlier this month as the federal agency collected feedback on the proposed cannabis regulations ahead of legalization this summer.

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Medical cannabis patients who use the plant to treat conditions ranging from eczema to cancer are coming together this Friday from 10 a.m. to noon in front of Finance Minister

Bill Morneau's downtown Toronto constituency office at 430 Parliament St., to call out the government's proposed plan to increase the already unfair and burdensome tax on medical cannabis.

Unlike medical cannabis, most prescribed medications are not taxed, creating a situation where patients are choosing medications based on financial options rather than harm reduction and efficacy.

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Health unit under fire for perceived lack of urgency in pursuing provincial funds

Matt Cascadden, who lost seven friends last year to the raging opioid epidemic, is convinced a safe injection site in Windsor would save many lives.

"It should be pushed, I think we need it big time, now," the 36-year-old Windsor man and former drug user said Thursday.

Now living in a downtown residence, Cascadden contemplated the impact such a centre - part of an overdose prevention site currently being offered by the Ontario government - would have on the growing number of addicts who shoot up in parks, alleys and backyards.

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Provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall will call it a career next week, confident that the tools are finally in place to tackle the opioid overdose crisis that has ravaged this province for more than three years.

Kendall has been among the chief architects of B.C.'s response to the deadly wave of powerful synthetic opioids that have largely replaced heroin in the illicit drug supply.

Deputy provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry will replace Kendall when he officially retires on Jan. 31. Henry will become the first woman to serve as B.C.'s provincial health officer.

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In the hope of spreading awareness of the therapeutic benefits of MDMA, commonly known as ecstacy, one local psychotherapist is encouraging Kingstonians to explore and discuss the opportunities of psychedelic drugs.

"MDMA is an empathogen, it gives you more empathy and self-compassion, and so when you're in therapy with it you can look at your trauma with a little bit more openness," Richard Tyo, a registered psychotherapist and member of the Kingston Psychedelic Society, said on Wednesday. "It can really accelerate a lot of therapy."

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British Columbia's first provincial health officer is resigning after nearly 20 years on a job he calls "incredibly rewarding."

Perry Kendall, who declared a public health emergency in 2016 over the province's overdose crisis, will be leaving his post at the end of the month, when the deputy health officer will fill the position.

Dr. Kendall has described the opioid epidemic as B.C.'s most devastating health issue because of the high number of deaths from fentanyl, which is cut into street drugs.

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An insignificant number of Canadians use illicit drugs. Less than four per cent use them and less than two per cent have a problem resulting from hard drug use, notably, heroin and cocaine. The consequences, which can include death and over-dosing, place a heavy social and economic burden on society.

Let's start by understanding what motivates people, and especially the young, to use drugs. Programs that address the reasons for the behaviour are far more likely to work.

That said, it is about time we start treating drug use and drug addiction for what it is: a public health problem with the priorities being treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction.

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Temporary facility overdue 'because with every tick of the clock, someone else's life could end,' says ex-addict

In a city where drug overdose deaths in the first three weeks of 2018 have nearly matched the entire 2017 death toll, there's finally an answer.

Or at least a good start. Advocates say London's newly unveiled overdose prevention site at 186 King St. - the first of its kind in Ontario - is key to stemming the tide of overdose deaths in the city.

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A four-pillared strategy to combat the region's opioid crisis was unveiled Friday by local officials.

They zeroed in on improving treatment options, public awareness, physician and patient education, availability of the anti-overdose drug naloxone and harm reduction measures like needle disposal boxes and investigating a safe-injection site.

"We can call it a crisis because it is affecting our community hard and our average rate of opioid-related death is way higher than the provincial average," acting medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said at a morning news conference to announce the strategy that's been a year in the making.

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A University of Calgary researcher says the city's supervised consumption site is important not only for people who use opioids, but for those who consume other substances such as meth, which was cited as the most frequently used substance during a recent study of drug users in Calgary.

The research was conducted as part of a harm reduction needs assessment for Calgary that launched in June 2017 and wrapped up in the fall. The study included 370 people in the city who use substances other than alcohol or marijuana.

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City considers ways to better protect employees and public

Victoria public works officials are examining protocols over the handling of discarded hypodermic needles to better protect employees and the public.

Fraser Work, Victoria director of engineering and public works, said the city is looking at its own protocols in light of reports this month of people encountering or being nicked by discarded needles.

"We take this issue very seriously, on behalf of our workers and the public," said Work.

He attended a meeting on Wednesday with public health officials, police, social service agencies and addict advocates to discuss recent needle incidents.

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Three deaths, two hospitalizations, 48 hours.

It doesn't get much scarier.

As if the deadly opioid drug crisis sweeping London and the rest of Canada isn't alarming enough, London police amped up their warnings about the fallout Wednesday in the wake of three suspected drug overdose deaths and two hospital emergency cases spread over several days this week.

The move came as city police and the Ontario Provincial Police held a rare joint public information meeting Wednesday night about the dangers of fentanyl, the most sinister opioid drug and one that's already been implicated in deaths in Southwestern Ontario.

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Dangerously discarded needles could be part of plan to discredit injection drug users and public health efforts to help them, says Island Health's chief medical health officer.

Dr. Richard Stanwick told reporters that some people lack sympathy for drug users and oppose measures such as needle exchanges. They might even want to discredit both by leaving syringes outside for the public to find or get jabbed.

"There are still people who see [drug addiction] as a moral failing and bad choice rather than a chronic, relapsing disease of the brain," Stanwick said. "What we are really concerned about is making sure this isn't some sort of effort to discredit efforts around harm reduction."

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Province announces marijuana will be sold in stand-alone stores in Charlottetown, Summerside, Montague and West Prince

There will be four initial locations for marijuana sales in P.E.I. as the provincial government announced Tuesday more preliminary directions for cannabis legislation.

The retail sites will be in Charlottetown, Summerside, Montague and West Prince, although specific locations have not yet been determined.

"We haven't been totally specific on exact locations, (but) we know the areas that we are looking at,'' said Finance Minister Heath MacDonald. "We are striving to have capacity in those areas.''

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OTTAWA - Even as Justin Trudeau prepares to deliver on his promise to legalize recreational marijuana, Liberal MPs are pushing the government to eliminate criminal penalties for simple possession and consumption of all illicit drugs.

The prime minister has so far drawn the line at pot legalization, but he's now being pressured to go much further in a resolution developed by the national Liberal caucus for consideration at the federal party's national policy convention in April in Halifax.

It is one of 39 resolutions that the party opened up for online discussion Tuesday.

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