Dr. Kora DeBeck is a Research Scientist with the BC Centre on Substance Use and Distinguished Professor in the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University. She holds a CIHR Applied Public Health Chair and is a Dorothy Killam Fellow. She has also recently been invited to the Royal

Every year on August 31, Overdose Awareness Day reminds us of the immense loss of life due to the toxic drug poisoning crisis. We mark this day each year as a time of what seems to be unrelenting grief and loss but equally as a reminder of the urgency of

Dr. Mary Clare Kennedy is a Research Scientist with the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU). She is also a Canada Research Chair in Substance Use Policy and Practice Research. Her research focuses on social-structural dimensions of health and interventions designed to improve health outcomes among people who use drugs,

The At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS – pronounced ‘Arise’) began in 2005 to evaluate existing programs and services for street-involved youth who use unregulated drugs. For over nearly two decades, the study has enrolled more than 1,000 young participants with lived experience and connected with them on an ongoing basis through

The At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS – pronounced ‘Arise’) was created in 2005 at the BC Centre on Substance Use to evaluate programs and services available for street-involved youth who use substances. The study has been gathering data based on the lived experiences of over 1,000 young participants over the course

Christian Barborini (left) and Trevor Goodyear (right) Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and other sexual and gender minority (2SLGBTQIA+) youth experience inequities in substance use. Research has historically emphasized the negative experiences and effects associated with using. Christian Barborini and Trevor Goodyear, two researchers from

The At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS – pronounced ‘Arise') began in 2005 at the BC Centre on Substance Use to bridge these gaps. The study evaluates programs and services through data based on the lived experiences of street-involved youth who use substances. The longitudinal cohort study includes over 1,000 street-involved youth

The ARYS team at the Granville office The drug poisoning crisis in British Columbia and Canada is having devastating effects on young people and their loved ones. Since an official public health emergency was declared in B.C. in April 2016, over 14,000 people, including over 1,800 young people under 30