Criminalization of simple drug possession has had 'devastating effect,' says AIDS Saskatoon director

A Saskatoon police spokeswoman said city police generally lay drug possession charges as a result of an investigation into something else.

Criminalization of possession of illicit drugs for personal use has had a "devastating effect," says the AIDS Saskatoon's executive director.

Jason Mercredi said he fully supports a call by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police on the federal government to decriminalize simple possession of illicit drugs for personal use. The CACP made the call last week after issuing its findings in a report.

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The 2011 Supreme Court of Canada ruling on Vancouver's Insite clinic clearly established 1) that supervised consumption sites are part of health-care services that should be made accessible to people who use drugs, 2) that these sites contribute to reducing the harms associated with drug use, and 3) that denying access to these sites increases the risk of death and disease.

In addition to saving lives every day, these sites act as an essential point of contact for people to access much-needed health-care services that have been proven effective to reduce overdoses, blood-borne infections (hepatitis C and HIV), infections (i.e., skin, soft tissue, heart and blood infections) and other medical complications. They also help connect people who use drugs with social services and support to address housing and food insecurity, mental health issues, trauma and isolation.

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The Minnesota Department of Health is adding the degenerative neurological disorder to its cannabis program, which includes cancer pain, epileptic seizures, PTSD and autism. Research is limited, but findings suggest that cannabis inhibits the formation of proteins linked to memory loss and dementia.

Alzheimer's disease will be eligible for treatment with medical marijuana in Minnesota starting next year, becoming the 14th health condition certified by the state since the program began in 2015.

The Minnesota Department of Health announced Monday that it was adding the degenerative neurological disorder to its cannabis program, which already includes cancer pain, epileptic seizures, post-traumatic stress disorder and autism.

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Northwest Ohio Syringe Services has begun distributing fentanyl test strips to active users of opioids and other drugs. The exchange, a program through the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, is part of a larger strategy of harm reduction to keep people with addiction issues healthy while using, and provide them with resources and help when they want to seek treatment.

Fentanyl has become the scourge of anyone trying to fight Ohio's opioid epidemic: deadly in small quantities and appearing in an increasing number of fatal overdoses.

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For years, Kentucky veterans have approached us with a question that has no good answer: "Why are my comrades in other states able to treat PTSD and pain with medical cannabis while I cannot?"

Frustrated and confused, these men and women struggle daily with the effects of post-traumatic stress triggered by the horrors of war and chronic pain from injuries suffered in combat.

One is Eric Pollack whose PTSD became so unbearable that he nearly became part of a depressing statistic. In Kentucky, the veteran suicide rate is 10 percent higher than the national average.

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OTTAWA - Setting up tattoo parlours and needle-exchange programs in penitentiaries would help reduce the spread of hepatitis C, the federal prison service has told the Trudeau government.

A Correctional Service memo obtained under the Access to Information Act advises Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to round out existing and planned measures to fight hepatitis and HIV in prison.

Prison tattooing and needle-exchange programs for drug users have generated intense controversy over the years, and the March 2017 memo says detailed research should be carried out before embarking on a syringe needle program, in particular, "to avoid unintended and negative consequences for inmates."

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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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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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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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TALLAHASSEE -- Two years after lawmakers approved a needle-and-syringe exchange program in Miami-Dade County, the House and Senate are considering taking it statewide and expanding the types of providers who can offer the services.

House and Senate health care-panels on Wednesday approved bills that would allow hospitals, clinics, medical schools and substance-abuse treatment programs to begin offering needle-and-syringe exchange programs to try to reduce the spread of diseases such as HIV, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated cost nearly $380,000 to treat over a lifetime.

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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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CAMBRIDGE - An innovative new peer-based pilot project will be launched in Cambridge early next year with the aim of curbing improper needle disposal in the community.

The project is a partnership between Region of Waterloo Public Health, which will provide funding, Sanguen Health Centre and the City of Cambridge.

Along with removing needles through patrols and education, it will offer employment and skill development to people who have experienced substance abuse; they will be hired as the peer workers.

"There is no harm in trying other methods to connect people and get them on board," said Violet Umanetz, Sanguen's outreach manager. "The peers do so well working in the community."

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The United States' overall rate of hepatitis C infection more than doubled from 2004 to 2014 -- and among people under 40, it increased by 300 to 400 percent.

The reason for the jump? Transmission through injecting opioid drugs, said a report published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health.

Lead author Jon Zibbell, senior public health analyst in the Behavioral and Urban Health program of North Carolina-based RTI International, said public health officials have long presumed the link, but the research, performed in conjunction with a number of other agencies, provides data to back it up.

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LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - Charles Grugan's drug addiction took a toll on his family.

They tried to help him, but on Oct. 12, 2011, Grugan 33, overdosed on heroin. He never recovered.

While on life support in a regional hospital, doctors approached his family and showed them his driver's license.

Grugan had made the decision to be an organ donor when he was 18 years old.

His heart, liver and kidneys were successfully transplanted into three people.

"It was a silver lining for us," Grugan's' mother, Eileen Grugan, said. "Donating Charles' organs to others was the thing that kept our family together and pulled us through this grief.

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Two community agencies on hand to lend support for initiative which is expected to be paid for by province

The city has endorsed a supervised injection site for downtown Hamilton but it's up to a community agency to step up to run such a facility.

The city's board of health endorsed the findings of a long-awaited study Monday that recommend adding at least one permanent site in the core for people to safely inject illegal drugs under the watchful eye of health professionals.

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Facing the reality that Hamilton needs at least one supervised injection site is not pleasant.

In an ideal world, such a thing might not be needed. People with drug addictions would get counselling and support to break their addiction. Until then, they could ingest drugs in a safe and clean environment.

But this isn't an ideal world. We're in a historic and growing street-drug crisis. And those qualities - access to support and a safe environment - are exactly what you get with a supervised injection site (SIS).

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Most pharmacies won't ask what needles are used for

Used needles or other sharps never have to be discarded in bottles, garbage or public spaces because of the Safe Sharps Bring-Back Program.

The Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia (PANS) administers the program for residential sharps users. Although it is not intended for people who use intravenous drugs, most pharmacies won't ask what the needles are being used for.

"The whole idea is about harm reduction," said Hugh Toner, pharmacist owner of both Medicine Shoppe stores in Sydney.

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Regularly imposed bail condition is an untenable method of punishment and sets up marginalized people for failure

Imagine you have a serious medical condition requiring regular care. You are charged with a minor offence, for which you are innocent until proved guilty, and your first step into the justice system is to stand before a judge who will determine whether you will be released on bail. The judge says you are free to go, but as a condition of release you are not to be within the 10 square-block area that constitutes the downtown - even though your doctor, your pharmacy and your social supports such as friends and family are all within that area. You have been "red zoned" from your community.

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Does Trudeau back harm reduction or not, ask Sandra Ka Hon Chu and Richard Elliott

Implementing needle and syringe programs in federal prisons could prevent numerous new HIV and Hepatitis C virus infections each year, saving tens of millions of dollars.

Five years ago, we started a constitutional court case, because it was clear that, despite the evidence, the previous government would never agree to implement these health services in federal prisons.

But the Trudeau government has repeatedly declared its commitment to harm reduction and evidence-based policy, to Charter rights, and to the health and welfare of vulnerable Canadians. Prison-based needle and syringe programs reflect all of these.

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A pilot project was launched Tuesday to provide the first outdoor after-hours needle disposable drop box, with the aim of curbing the high rate of hepatitis C, locally.

The sharp disposal kiosk is located on the property of AIDS Support Chatham-Kent at 67 Adelaide St. S. in Chatham, which has partnered with the ChathamKent Public Health Unit to provide a safe place to dispose of needles.

When looking at best practices of other communities where these types of sharp disposal kiosks are available, it's a program that's been tested, said Steve Pratt, harm reduction program manager with AIDS Support C-K.

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