Harm reduction workers follow correct belief relationships more important than rules Eight days of silence gives one sufficient time to engage in some of the contemplation and reading necessary for moving about more wisely in this world with our ever-increasing set of wicked problems. It also provides the space for taking in a book or three, a practice I neglect during my routinized day to day. So I have returned home from my retreat richer than ever, gleaning wisdom from both the silent and the written word. [continues 626 words]
Canada is in the grip of an unprecedented opioid crisis. An estimated 2,458 Canadians died of opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016 - more than the national count of motor-vehicle accident and homicide deaths combined. British Columbia reported 967 (mainly opioid) drug-overdose fatalities in 2016, and is on track for 1,500 in 2017. Alberta and Ontario have also seen substantial increases. Numerous interventions have been discussed and initiated recently - yet, the number of deaths continue to rise. Part of this deadly stalemate relates to the fact that, underlying the opioid crisis are two paradoxically linked challenges - neither of which are adequately understood or addressed by current responses. On the one hand, a substantial portion of the present crisis is due to years of systemic and non-evidence based overprescribing, which put too many people, for too long, on too high doses, of opioid drugs. To counter this, excessive opioid prescribing levels have to be substantially reduced in order to prevent even more Canadians being exposed to opioid misuse, dependence and undue death. These sensible reductions in harmful opioid prescribing at the individual and population level are the central objective of newly tabled Canadian prescription guidelines. [continues 655 words]
Associate minister confident Ottawa will approve proposal for Beltway operation A proposed supervised drug-consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre will receive a $1.2-million funding boost from the province, as the number of fentanyl-related overdoses in Alberta continues to mount. Associate minister of health Brandy Payne said the funds will go toward renovating the Beltline health centre that is expected to eventually house Calgary's first supervised drug-consumption site. No timeline for the facility's opening has been confirmed, but Payne said the latest data on drug deaths across the province reaffirms the need for harm-reduction services. [continues 511 words]
Harm reduction deserves benefit of the doubt I suspect this generation of policy-makers, and the previous one especially, will struggle to explain to their grandchildren just what on earth they thought they were doing about opioid addiction. I don't mean the likes of Donald Trump, who seems to think a get tough policing approach - a "war on drugs," perhaps - might get the job done. I mean smart, reasonably compassionate Canadians, by no means all conservatives, whose worries about safe injection sites in particular look bizarre even today, when people are still using them. [continues 728 words]
T.O.'s top doc says move is in response to opioid crisis Toronto's will open three "interim" supervised injection sites this week. Dr. Eileen da Villa, the city's chief medical officer of health, confirmed Monday that the opening of the three sites has been accelerated in response to the opioid overdose crisis. The move comes a little over a week after the city said it would speed up the development of the sites from their original mid-fall scheduled opening. At that time, city staff were directed to open them as soon as possible. [continues 248 words]
After a wave of overdose deaths, Toronto public health officials are scrambling to open interim supervised drug-use sites, including one in a harm-reduction clinic near Yonge-Dundas Square that could be operating within days. The move, announced by the city's medical officer of health on Monday, comes after volunteer front-line workers and activists set up a controversial pop-up supervised drug-use site in an east-end park. The group, calling itself the Toronto Harm Reduction Alliance, says the city has been dragging its feet in responding to the opioid crisis. [continues 600 words]
Move follows weekend opening of unsanctioned site in Moss Park After an unsanctioned safe-injection site opened in a downtown park over the weekend, Toronto Public Health has announced it will open an interim site where people can shoot their drugs in a safe environment. The interim supervised injection services will be located at a site for which (federal) exemptions have already been provided, Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city's Medical Officer of Health, said Monday. "We want to make sure that we're providing these interim supervised-injection services in a manner that's safe for the clients and of course for our staff." [continues 428 words]
Officials in Toronto are trying to partially open three safe- injection sites months earlier than anticipated, due to a rise in overdoses and deaths. Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto's medical officer of health, said"interim safe injection sites" will be opened at three Health Canada- approved permanent sites until renovations to the long-term facilities are complete. "We' re trying to open them as quickly as possible," she said, adding that, while she didn't have an exact date, the sites could be up and running in a matter of days. [continues 374 words]
Jailing addicts does nothing to stop substance abuse, says Michael Spratt. Last week, Ottawa's medical officer of health, Dr. Isra Levy, pledged Ottawa Public Health's support for "new evidence-based approaches" to combat the problems caused by illegal drugs including - wait for it - decriminalization. City Coun. Mathieu Fleury said, "It's a crazy thought, but it's a crazy thought that might actually have some merit." Fleury should be commended. Where Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson had cast off the shackles of evidence-based thinking to stand against the city's first safe consumption site, Fleury's open mindedness is a breath of fresh air. [continues 635 words]
It's unofficial - but welcome The tent went up at ten to four on Sunday - a big tan tarp slung over a metal base in the last ungentrified sliver of Toronto's downtown. Around it, tattooed volunteers shifted supplies: black naloxone kits, water bottles, baggies stuffed with sterilized needles and gear. "Don't you think this is so cool," Angie Austin said to a group of friends sitting on the grass nearby. "What is it?" one replied. "It is," she said, "a safe injection site." [continues 529 words]
The deadly painkiller fentanyl, thrust under a spotlight by a rare warning by three health agenices and city police, isn't the only dangerous street drug raising eyebrows in London. Heroin is also showing up, in levels-those who work with addicts say they haven't seen before. One agency blames the spike on the province tightening the prescription drugs it covers under a program for people on social assistance and seniors, which has driven some users to heroin instead. "I've never known it (heroin) here. Now it is," said Karen Burton, needle and syringe program coordinator at Regional HIV/AIDS Connection in London, whose work includes a drug needle exchange program. "Heroin is here and I don't see it disappearing anytime soon." [continues 630 words]
People on the frontlines of the opioid overdose crisis say they know exactly what needs to be done to save lives and tackle the "public health emergency." Build safe affordable housing, expedite the opening of the safe injection sties, expand the distribution of overdose-reversing naloxone and drug-testing kits, and increase funding for harm-reduction staff positions. At a news conference Friday beside a laundromat in a hardscrabble section of downtown Toronto, community health workers, drug users and anti-poverty activists were also united in their call to end the criminalization of drug use. [continues 504 words]
TORONTO - Harm reduction workers in Toronto are calling for the immediate opening of interim safe injection spaces and social housing with a focus on helping drug users as the city deals with a spike in opioid overdoses. The demands were among a list of measures issued by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and other advocacy groups on Friday, as they called for a declaration of a public health emergency over the issue and asked for the wide distribution of drug testing kits in the city. [continues 348 words]
The city is also being urged to declare a public-health emergency amid a string of overdoses and suspected related deaths Harm-reduction workers in Toronto are calling for the immediate opening of interim supervised drug-use spaces and social housing with a focus on helping drug users as the city deals with a spike in opioid overdoses. The demands were among a list of measures issued by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and other advocacy groups on Friday, as they called for a declaration of a public-health emergency over the issue and asked for the wide distribution of drug testing kits in the city. [continues 521 words]
The number of Niagara residents dying from fentanyl related overdoses is on track to hit a record high this year, according to data provided by Niagara Regional Police. Police say officers have responded to 15 fatal opioid overdoses since Jan. 1, with 10 of them involving fentanyl. Police responded to 12 fentanyl related fatal overdoses in all 2016. This data only reflects overdose incidents that involved the police. It does not capture overdoses, fatal or otherwise, that did not involve a police response such as a person arriving at an emergency room on their own. [continues 663 words]
A conspiracy hypothesis must surely be tested regarding the carnage currently inflicted by street fentanyl and its weaponized derivative, carfentanil. Simply stated, drug dealing is a business. No entrepreneur is going to deliberately contaminate product so that it kills the customers. Suspicion must be entertained that some organization with ulterior motives is deliberately contaminating the street drug supply. Opioid and stimulant injectors are the main target. The possibility of tainted street marijuana (Get naloxone, pot users urged, Aug. 4) pales by comparison. Now more than ever, the adage rings true that illegal drugs are not dangerous because they're illegal, they're illegal because they are dangerous. Harm reduction efforts are laudable but they are failing to stop the purge. Jamie Harris London [end]
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]
ARCHES identifies former downtown area nightclub as a future medically-supervised drug consumption site A former downtown area nightclub has been pegged as the location for a future medically-supervised drug consumption site. ARCHES Lethbridge, a harm reduction agency, made the announcement on Wednesday that it had filed an application on July 31 with Health Canada to establish the services at the site formerly known as Pulse Nightclub. The facility requires a federal exemption to allow drug use inside the building. [continues 1130 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 should think twice about decriminalizing drugs. Canada gave the concept serious consideration in 1972 with the Le Dain Commission and thought about it some more with the House of Commons Special Committee on Non-medical Use of Drugs in 2002. DiManno's apprehension seems to boil down to decriminalization sending "the wrong message." If refraining from criminalizing those who engage in unhealthy activities sends the wrong message, are we remiss in not criminalizing drinkers, smokers and the sports she endorses? [continues 143 words]
