The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Toxic drug deaths appear to be falling in B.C.—and no one is sure why
February 25, 2025 | CTV News
Frontline workers, drug users and experts alike are unsure why the number of reported deaths from toxic drugs appears to be decreasing in British Columbia, since the same trend is also taking place in jurisdictions with very different policies. Early this month, the BC Coroners Service announced tha...
BC Government’s Crackdown on Safe Supply Spreads Fear
February 21, 2025 | Filter
British Columbia’s provincial government has ended its take-home safe supply program for new participants, with an intention to transition existing patients to witnessed ingestion too. The program provides pharmaceutical drugs, mostly opioids, to protect people who use drugs from the acute risks o...
Vancouver’s drug decriminalisation trial has opened a debate over how to stop drug deaths
February 20, 2025 | ABC News
Canada has long had a progressive drug reform policy that has broadly been applauded by liberals everywhere. The government opened the first safe injecting room in North America in 2003, and there are now 39 across the country. Australia has just two. In 2018, Canada legalised cannabis, and in 2023 ...
B.C. changes policy around take-home opioids
February 20, 2025 | Global News Morning BC
The B.C. government is making a major drug policy change. People prescribed alternatives to toxic drugs will no longer be able to take them home, or use them without supervision. Global News Morning speaks with Dr. Paxton Bach of the BC Centre on Substance Use about what the policy change means for ...
Ontario’s Closure of Safe Consumption Sites Draws Criticism
February 12, 2025 | Medscape
The Ontario government’s decision to close multiple safe consumption sites (SCSes) for people who use drugs (PWUD) and open 27 Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs instead is drawing widespread criticism from clinicians who treat substance use disorders (SUDs). The announcemen...
