The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Opinion: Criminalizing drug use won’t solve addiction
October 01, 2025 | Calgary Herald
I almost spit out my coffee when I read the headline and premise of last week’s opinion column by Marshall Smith, the former chief of staff to the premier of Alberta: “Banning public drug use is bold, courageous and obvious.” I’ve been sober for more than 12 years. Before that, I spent three...
Mixed reaction to B.C. premier’s announcement of new involuntary care facilities
September 27, 2025 | CBC News
Councillors in two B.C. communities are welcoming the premier’s announcement of involuntary care facilities amid public safety concerns, even as a drug policy academic says forcing people into drug treatment is ineffective. B.C. Premier David Eby announced Friday at the Union of B.C. Municipal...
Swept aside: Study links Vancouver’s ‘street sweeps’ of homeless to greater risk of overdose, violence
September 03, 2025 | Vancouver Sun
Controversial “street sweeps” carried out by the City of Vancouver between 2021 and 2023 to clear makeshift housing and personal belongings from public spaces put homeless residents at greater risk, a new Simon Fraser University study suggests. The study found that those who had items confiscate...
Canada Releases First Smoking Cessation Guideline for Adults
August 26, 2025 | Medscape
The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care has released practical guidance, along with a menu of options, to help adults quit smoking tobacco. The guideline includes evidence-based behavioral and drug therapies — and for the first time, a natural health product, cytisine — that can be tai...
Caring for young people during a toxic drug crisis: Q&A with Dr. Danya Fast
August 22, 2025 | BC Children's Hospital Research Institute
“It’s important to discuss the toxicity of the drug supply,” says Dr. Danya Fast, an investigator at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. In 2007, she started her research with people as young as 13 years old who use drugs in the context of unstable housing and homelessness. A med...
