The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Overdoses down in B.C., but toxic, powerful drug is more common: coroner
May 15, 2019 | National Post
VANCOUVER — A drug expert says a powerful opioid that was never intended for human consumption is becoming more common in British Columbia’s illicit drug supply and its “tremendous profitability” means the situation may get worse without intervention. Dr. Evan Wood of the BC Centre on Substa...
Daphne Bramham: Alcohol, not opioids, is Canada’s biggest drug problem
May 02, 2019 | Vancouver Sun
With so much focus on illicit drugs and overdose deaths, it might seem that opioids are the biggest addictions problem. Far from it. Alcohol kills many more people each year (14,800 in 2014), results in more hospitalizations annually than heart attacks and is one of the most expensive and intractabl...
Drug activist wants users to mail him samples for testing
May 01, 2019 | CTV News Vancouver
Many people know Dana Larsen as a dispensary owner and one of the organizers of 4/20 Vancouver, but now the long-time cannabis activist is launching a new service aimed at users of harder drugs. Larsen has bought a $40,000 spectrometer that can analyze a few milligrams of a substance and fairly accu...
B.C. doctors look to Portugal for drug decriminalization lessons
May 01, 2019 | CBC News (BC)
Thousands of health officials and advocates, including top B.C. doctors, are gathered in Portugal this week to talk about addressing the overdose crisis though decriminalization. Portugal has long been hailed for its progressive policies on drugs, which have been decriminalized since 2001. “The Po...
Addiction experts decry ban on cannabis sales in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
April 25, 2019 | CBC News (BC)
Cannabis was legalized in Canada last year, but that hasn’t made it easier for people who want to buy weed on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Health workers and addiction experts say new municipal rules and licensing regimes are leaving people at the epicentre of the country’s opioid crisis...
