TORONTO - The number of Canadians registered to purchase medical marijuana from licensed producers has exploded since the federal commercial-access program was introduced almost four years ago, reaching nearly 130,000 by the end of last year, the most recent Heath Canada figures show. As of Dec. 31, 129,876 Canadians had signed up with the country's cannabis producers, a 32 per cent jump from the 98,460 registered at the end of September and a whopping 1,544 per cent increase from the 7,900 granted access to medicinal cannabis in mid-2014. [continues 934 words]
TORONTO - The number of Canadians registered to purchase medical marijuana from licensed producers has exploded since the federal commercial-access program was introduced almost four years ago, reaching nearly 130,000 by the end of last year, the most recent Heath Canada figures show. As of Dec. 31, 129,876 Canadians had signed up with the country's cannabis producers, a 32 per cent jump from the 98,460 registered at the end of September and a whopping 1,544 per cent increase from the 7,900 granted access to medicinal cannabis in mid-2014. [continues 583 words]
WATERLOO REGION - Sally has been taking drugs since her mother introduced her to them when she was 14. Today, the 26-year-old Kitchener woman is on methadone to curb her cravings. But Sally, not her real name, still does illicit drugs like crystal meth. Her drug of choice is crack but last summer while looking for a hit, she bought a "point" of fentanyl and injected it (a point is one-tenth of a gram). She doesn't want to do it again but fears it could be laced in the drugs she usually buys. [continues 1298 words]
As deaths mount, it's time to think the unthinkable and supply users with measured doses of pharmaceutically 'pure' heroin For more than 30 years, until retiring as a physician in Montreal, I cared for and studied people who became infected, sick or died from HIV infection. Now, Canada faces a new epidemic. It is an epidemic of overdose deaths, disease, disability and destitution from fentanyl-adulturated street heroin. Lessons from the HIV epidemic might help us to understand and respond quickly and successfully to this new and seemingly uncontrolled epidemic. [continues 638 words]
Volunteers clean up 1,000 discards a year in a city weighing supervised drug injection site. Tom Cull has more than 1,000 reasons - discarded needles - for London to support a supervised drug injection site. "We pick them up under bridges, along the watercourse, on the (river) banks, in parks," he says. Once a month, from the beginning of April to the start of winter, he and his crew of volunteers with the Thames River Rally pick up garbage along the river in London. [continues 328 words]
Regarding the article "Set up safe needle site in London, study says" (Feb. 9). If London is going ahead with safe injection sites why do we not get a doctor or nurse practitioner to run it with the goal of weaning these people off the drug? Set it up so if they are enrolled in the program they will be safe from prosecution, and if they do not sign up for it they will be prosecuted if caught with it. The ones signed up can sit down with the doctor when they first join and they can figure out together how much they use a day, how many times a day and how much each time. From there the doctor and addict can set up a reduction plan so that each time they come in it can be slightly reduced by so much a day for a week, and then each week after reducing again slightly. [continues 100 words]
Evert Botha promises his "unwavering support" for the project, and plans to lobby to make it a reality Steps are in motion to bring a safe injection site to Prince Albert, as part of a comprehensive plan for treating infectious disease and drug addiction. Councillor Evert Botha plans to push council to lend its approval to the initiative, which he says will reduce crime, take needles off the street and help vulnerable people. "I will be asking my fellow councillors and the mayor that we support the establishment, as a city, of a supervised injection site," he said. [continues 947 words]
A startling dissection of drug use in London - with the personal illnesses and public ills exposed - has laid on the table a compelling case for a supervised injection site in the city. But the sticky questions of exactly where the site or sites should go, whether the city can take the other steps necessary to make a site worthwhile, and how crystal meth and fentanyl will play a role remain unanswered. The lead researcher of a study on providing supervised injection in London did have one answer for residents still questioning the sanity of giving people a place to inject their illicit drugs. [continues 725 words]
Even though supervised injection services have been deemed feasible for Thunder Bay, many questions need to be answered before a facility - - or possibly two - can become a reality. The results of a Supervised Injection Services feasibility study were presented Tuesday. The study recommends the city consider establishing at least two sites in Thunder Bay, one in each of the north and south cores. Coun. Rebecca Johnson, chair of the Thunder Bay Drug Strategy, said public consultation will be required to see if there is support before any potential locations are examined. [continues 844 words]
Amid rising HIV rates and an entrenched needle culture, London researchers will unveil Wednesday a study on the value of a supervised injection site in the city. Researchers interviewed 200 people who are or were injection drug users to assess people's willingness to use the sites and about 20 representatives from health care, law enforcement, government and community organizations to get feedback. "There are several general recommendations based on the results of the study," but no specific direction to any agency or organization, Western University researcher Ayden Scheim said Monday. [continues 377 words]
The overdose crisis, especially in British Columbia, has become an issue of moral panic, and everyone is paying attention. The B.C. Coroner's Report for 2016 revealed a shocking number of deaths from overdose - 914, which far surpassed previous records and is nearly three times the number of deaths from automobile collisions. This crisis impacts us all and it requires a radical shift in the ways all provinces provide health care. Unfortunately, the human and financial toll continues to rise because we continue to view illicit substance use as a moral and criminal issue rather than the healthcare issue it is. As a health-care social worker on the front line, I am lending my voice to those with substance-use disorders, the ostracized and overlooked. [continues 555 words]
Editor, The News: I firmly agree with Larry Campbell's statement that "crime rates drop and addicts become more stable when [they receive] heroin from a doctor instead of a dealer or pimp" (Campbell, Boyd, & Culbert, 2009, p. 127). Dr. Martin Schechter of the University of British Columbia, provided Vancouver addicts with the first opportunity to receive medical-grade heroin administered by a doctor after he brought NAOMI (North American Opiate Medication Initiative) to life. He demonstrated that once people were stabilized by these treatments, they were "very orderly" (Campbell et al., 2009, p. 229). [continues 662 words]
The tide is turning on harm reduction. The reins of a new national drug strategy are squarely in the hands of Health Canada. There are positive signs legislators are abandoning ideology for evidence-based policy, and stonewalling for action. Last year, the opioid crisis claimed 916 lives in B.C. alone. The momentum for supervised injection sites builds on other initiatives, including methadone treatment and a growing network of needle-exchange programs, officially around since 1989. Harm reduction measures help decrease health risks for drug users at all stages of addiction and recovery. Measurable outcomes include reduced transmission of HIV and hepatitis C through needle sharing, fewer overdose deaths and greater access to addiction recovery supports. [continues 454 words]
When Ottawa recently announced a multi-pronged strategy to fight the deadly fentanyl crisis - a strategy that includes supervised drug consumption sites - Health Minister Jane Philpott boasted of "our renewed, evidence-based approach to Canada's drug strategy." If Ottawa is so keen on an evidence-based approach to drugs, why did it walk away from mediation aimed at settling a lawsuit calling on the government to provide needle exchanges in prisons? Mediation sessions were scheduled this week but Ottawa's lawyers backed out at the last minute. The lawsuit, brought in part by a former inmate who acquired hepatitis C behind bars, is going forward. [continues 348 words]
Like most of small town America, Southern Indiana was unprepared for the opioid crisis. That's what Sam Quinones said, who is an expert on the roots of America's heroin and prescription drug crisis. "It's bad all over the country, but I would say it's probably particularly unkempt in areas such as Southern Indiana," he said. Smaller towns "never had to deal with the issues that come along with opiate addiction like how hard it is to kick, all the ancillary effects of having an addict in the family, aE& the lying, the destruction of family savings." [continues 820 words]
One woman relied on old needles used by her friend's diabetic husband. Another settled for whatever syringes she could find. But for the first time since they started using drugs several years ago, both women have access to fresh syringes. They are getting them through a needle exchange in Frankfort. "If you can have a new one every time, why wouldn't you?" asked the younger of the two women, who both spoke to the CJ on condition of anonymity for fear of being stigmatized or getting fired. "I think it's awesome that they're doing this. [continues 1730 words]
