What happened to North America's boldest drug policy experiment? In the late 1990s and early 2000s, drug policy pulsed at the heart of Vancouver's municipal politics. In 2002, Larry Campbell, the former RCMP officer turned chief coroner, carried his newly adopted COPE party into city hall by campaigning on a harm reduction platform. These ideas -- clean needle distribution, supervised injection sites, and methadone -- were presented as pragmatic solutions to the harms associated with drug use. Campbell rode a wave that was already building throughout the '90s. In 1993, over 200 Vancouverites died of illicit drug overdose. With high overdose, HIV, and Hepatitis C rates, it was clear that the city needed a new way to deal with its drug problems. After much campaigning by activists, academics, and public health officials, council approved an 85-page document called A Framework For Action: A Four-Pillar Approach to Vancouver's Drug Problems. Those four pillars, approved in 2001, included 36 recommendations for a more progressive drug policy -- including the recommendation that lead to Insite. It was the most bold and progressive drug policy of any city in North America. [continues 1493 words]
Last year, 858 Maryland residents died due to alcohol or drug intoxication; that's enough to replace the entire University of Maryland football team more than eight times. This year is on track to be even more deadly, with a 33 percent increase in accidental opioid overdose deaths recorded in the first three months of 2014 alone. We do not want any more families, friends and communities to grieve their fallen loved ones. It is time for all of us to call this problem what is: an epidemic. [continues 545 words]
Thank you for making the case for methadone maintenance in your editorial, Positive news on methadone (SP, Aug. 23). Methadone has been proven to reduce drug use and related crime, death and disease among chronic opioid addicts. Though it is known as a treatment for heroin, methadone is also a viable treatment for addiction to synthetic opiates such as OxyContin. Methadone staves off debilitating withdrawal symptoms, but does not produce a high that prevents people from living productive lives. The tough-on-drugs alternative to harm reduction programs such as methadone maintenance is a threat to public safety. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of trafficking. [continues 64 words]
SASKATOON - Nearly 3,000 people were on methadone treatment in Saskatchewan in 2013 - more than double the number in 2008. Experts say more addicts are seeking help and access to the drug has been increased. Methadone is a synthetic opiate mostly prescribed to wean addicts off other opioids such as heroin, morphine, Oxycodone and Dilaudid. Experts note the drug is cheap, saves lives and decreases the burden addicts put on the health and justice systems. Some regions still lacking "There was a period of time when we could barely keep up with women who were pregnant and people with HIV. I'm happy to say we can expand beyond that now because we have increased capacity," said Dr. Peter Butt, who works with the methadone assisted recovery program in Saskatoon. Now, more doctors are able to prescribe methadone and a former cap on the number of users has been removed. [continues 596 words]
Access, Demand Rising Nearly 3,000 people were on methadone treatment in Saskatchewan in 2013 - more than double the number in 2008. Experts say more addicts are seeking help and access to the drug has been increased. Methadone is a synthetic opiate mostly prescribed to wean addicts off other opioids such as heroin, morphine, Oxycodone and Dilaudid. Experts note the drug is cheap, saves lives and decreases the burden addicts put on the health and justice systems. Some regions still lacking [continues 662 words]
The doubling of the number of methadone users in Saskatchewan over the past five years is as much a good news story as it is one that reflects the problems associated with an economic boom and Canada's lax approach to monitoring the prescribing of opioids. Certainly, it's a positive sign when the number of addicts seeking help to overcome their dependence on everything from heroin and morphine to prescription drugs such as Oxycodone rose to about 2,900 last year from 1,400 in 2008. [continues 444 words]
Over the vehement objections of both neighborhood residents and Erie County officials, the state has decided to grant Hispanics United of Buffalo and Acacia Network a conditional license to operate a clinic that will dispense methadone to heroin addicts. The state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Service, in a letter dated Wednesday, notified the clinic operators that it is granting a conditional certificate of operation for the clinic to be run out of Hispanics United's headquarters at 254 Virginia St. The letter said the decision was made, in part, after more than 60 community meetings had been held to discuss the proposal with nearby residents. [continues 622 words]
British Columbia's Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) system, which replaces heroin and other illegal narcotics with medically prescribed opiates such as methadone, is being touted as a success-but there's still progress to be made. A recent report published by the Office of the Provincial Health Officer (OPHO) of B.C. has concluded that the increase in availability of the treatment, as well as the increase in average duration of treatment of OST patients has "helped contribute to the lower incidence of HIV infection among those who inject drugs," as well as decrease the mortality rate of those addicted to opiates. [continues 382 words]
Health Ministry 'Disappointed' With B.C. Supreme Court Decision on Prescribing Drug A group of Vancouver drug addicts is slated to become Canada's first recipients of legally prescribed heroin by Christmas. As many as 202 patients should receive the laboratory-manufactured heroin from Europe by the end of the year, their lawyer said Thursday. "I think there's a sense of relief," said Adrienne Smith, the health and drug policy lawyer with the Pivot Legal Society that represented five heroin addicts from Vancouver's downtown East Side. [continues 448 words]
Opinions Differ At Public Hearing On Needle Exchange Facilities Harm reduction helped save Erica Thomson's life. The people who reached out to her made her feel worthy and that she was not disposable. Methadone helped get her off drugs, and as long as she was on it, she was permitted to keep her daughter in her care. Today, Thomson is drug-free and works as an outreach worker for the Women's Resource Society of the Fraser Valley (WRSFV). Katie, who didn't provide her last name, is a recovering drug addict who cleaned up with abstinence and the 12-step program. She has a 13-year-old son with fetal alcohol syndrome to think about and no matter what, she doesn't take up dope. [continues 696 words]
There's no magic pill to cure the heroin epidemic but judges in Ohio think they may have found an injection that can at least put a big dent in the problem. Now Kentucky lawmakers will look at whether Vivitrol could work in Kentucky, where it hasn't been tried in the legal system. Hocking County, Ohio Municipal Court Judge Frederick Moses will talk to Kentucky lawmakers on Thursday in Lexington about the success he's had in his drug court with Vivitrol to help addicts kick the habit. [continues 797 words]
At a time when heroin use and prescription drug abuse have reached epidemic levels, local health care providers are stepping up to the plate to help one targeted group: pregnant women. On Wednesday, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, along with several local insurers, announced the launch of what it called the "first-of its kind" outpatient recovery center in the country for pregnant women addicted to opiates - heroin and Vicodin, Oxycontin, hydrocodone and other highly addictive painkillers. And West Penn medical officials said a similar program is in the works. [continues 530 words]
WASHINGTON - The federal government tightened the prescribing for the most common form of painkiller in the country on Thursday, the final step in a policy shift that has been years in the making. The stricter rule for hydrocodone, which is the most widely prescribed painkiller in the United States and which is an ingredient in drugs like Vicodin, is one of the most far-reaching efforts to stop the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse. More than 20,000 Americans die every year because of prescription drug abuse, according to federal data. [continues 461 words]
Use Of Methadone In Mountjoy Criticised By Prisons Oversight Group Prisons are still struggling to tackle drug and staffing problems, according to the latest round of prison visit reports released by the Department of Justice today. One of the reports, which were compiled by prison visiting committees for various detention centres across the State, expressed severe reservations over the introduction of methadone into Mountjoy Prison's low security Training Unit. Committee members voiced concerns over the highly-addictive nature of the drug, which is used to wean addicts off opiates such as heroin, but acknowledged some successes of the fledgling system introduced earlier this summer. [continues 452 words]
THE number of drug-related deaths in Glasgow has fallen sharply, according to new figures. Deaths from legal highs rose from 47 to 113 last year There were 138 deaths in 2013 across the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) area, 49 fewer than the previous year. In the Glasgow City Council area, the number of drug-related deaths fell from 121 to 103. A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: "The impact of drug misuse in some of our most deprived communities has enormous consequences for the people who take drugs, their families and the local community. [continues 254 words]
Lawyer John Morgan And A Casino Mogul Debate Via Email Trial lawyer John Morgan - whose outsized persona is already etched onto Florida's consciousness - said medical marijuana has boosted his celebA-rity even higher. At the Orlando airport last week, eight to 10 people stopped him between the plane and his car to thank him for bankrollA-ing the constitutional amendA-ment to legalize medical marA-ijuana, Morgan said. 'Two or three wanted to have their picA-tures taken with me.' However, none of that hoopla surprised Morgan as much as an email that arrived three months ago from Nevada. [continues 960 words]
At a Drug Conference, Pope Francis Wrongly Derided Medication for Drug Abusers On June 21, the Vatican press office published the presentation made by Pope Francis to the 31st International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC) in Rome. The pope told the conferees, "The problem of drug use is not solved with drugs! ... Substitute drugs are not an adequate therapy, but rather a veiled means of surrendering to the phenomenon." These comments represent an unfortunate, categorical rejection of "maintenance" treatment of opioid addiction with medications such as methadone. [continues 495 words]
Welcome news. Teleconference set up to discuss claims that some patients are relapsing after switch Government and health officials are meeting Friday to discuss claims that some patients are relapsing after B.C. switched patients to a commercial methadone product in February. The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the Drug Users' Resource Centre wrote an open letter this week saying that Methadose is proving to be ineffective for longtime methadone users, its effects wearing out after 16 hours and triggering withdrawal symptoms. Many stable, long-term methadone users have relapsed to using heroin, the letter claims. [continues 322 words]
Patients in B.C. up 66 per cent over five years A program that treats illicit drug users by giving them methadone or another substitute is saving lives and money, the provincial health officer said Thursday. Dr. Perry Kendall released a report showing that increased numbers of B.C. patients take methadone or suboxone to treat an addiction to heroin, morphine or Oxy-Contin. "We're seeing the hospitalization costs come down, which means that people are probably less sick when they're being hospitalized," he said. "The mortality rate is coming down, which is really good news. =C2=85 [continues 344 words]
