All About Drug Checking: The People Behind the Machines
In a job that’s part outreach, part technical, drug checking technicians play a pivotal role in community harm reduction. Community drug checking services started being offered in 2017 in response to the ongoing toxic drug crisis. Many community drug checking services in BC use a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer in combination
“Youth who use drugs become adults who use drugs”
Vancouver and Lisbon, while worlds apart, are both boasted for their global leadership in innovating progressive harm reduction policies and services. A group of researchers from both cities partnered with a committee of young people who use drugs to share whether their respective cities were meeting young people’s needs in
Through their eyes: Listening to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth about their experiences with opioids
Youth have unique experiences with opioids and the myriad systems of care. That’s especially true for those who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+. Listening to those youth about their experiences with opioids can help inform how programs and services are designed to better support them. We spoke with Trevor Goodyear, a research
The growing need to adapt services to address the changing modes of drug consumption
Early this year, the BC Coroners Service released a report looking at mode of drug consumption and risk of fatal drug poisoning. The data confirmed what many have known for some time – the way people are consuming drugs is changing and services to support people who use drugs need
LOUD in the ED: Stopping the revolving door
Every day in emergency departments across the province, someone who uses opioids is discharged without ever being offered treatment or care. As a result, the risk of a fatal overdose increases the moment that person walks out those hospital doors, the opportunity to connect them with evidence-based care is gone.
Q & A with Dr. Lindsey Richardson
Canada Research Chairs (CRC) are some of the world’s brightest scholars and scientists who contribute to new discoveries and help us make sense of the world we live in. Chairholders aim to achieve research excellence in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences. When the Government
Peer Advocacy Navigators
Seeking help for opioid use can be confusing, frustrating, and, ultimately, defeating. Nobody knows that better than Laura Shaver and Reija Jean, who are Peer Advocacy Navigators with the BC Centre on Substance Use. Shaver and Jean both have personal experience trying to navigate the health system and understand the
Alcohol Harm Reduction
Photo: Brittany Graham (middle right) and members of the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education, Rob M. (left) Ron K. (middle left) and Loretta B. (right). In 1981, the City of Vancouver trialed shutting down a Main and Hastings liquor store in order to reduce drinking in the Downtown
Q & A with Dr. Danya Fast
This month, we chatted with Dr. Danya Fast, a Research Scientist at the BC Centre on Substance Use and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on tracing the substance use treatment trajectories of young people in Greater Vancouver as
Why peer overdose response workers deserve more
Five years into the public health emergency, the emotional and psychological burden carried by those responding to overdoses becomes heavier with each day. Overdose responders with lived experience are especially susceptible to burnout, according to Michelle Olding, a community-based researcher at the BC Centre on Substance Use. She’s been interviewing
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