The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Opioid addicts turn to psychedelic plants to treat withdrawal, but doctors warn of risks
May 02, 2017 | CBC News
Maria Michaelides, 36, thought there was no way out. The Kitchener, Ont., woman started taking Percocet for chronic pain five years ago. At first, she used the medication as prescribed. At the time, Michaelides was caught in an abusive relationship that chipped away at her emotional resolve, an...
It’s time to stop opioid prohibition and start regulation
April 28, 2017 | The Globe and Mail
Jordan Westfall is president of the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs. Thomas Kerr is a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia During the era of alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, an average of 1,000 people a year lost their lives from consuming illicitly produced alco...
Record-Breaking Number Of Overdoses In The DTES And Across Metro Vancouver
April 28, 2017 | CKNW
This week has seen record-breaking numbers of overdose numbers in the DTES and across Metro Vancouver – telling us: That the fentanyl crisis may be getting worse, not better, even after all the funding and naloxone availability and efforts to ban pill presses That the “Welfare Wednesday” s...
In B.C., ‘immediate action’ on opioid crisis is open to political interpretation
April 27, 2017 | The Globe and Mail
British Columbia’s major party leaders exchanged jabs on the issue of the overdose crisis during this week’s televised debate, citing money spent – and not spent – as an indication of progress to date. But were their comments accurate? Responding to a question on what each candidate would do...
Simple possession records for pot should be expunged
April 26, 2017 | Vancouver Courier
The biggest hazard facing most people who smoke pot is getting busted. It has been that way for decades. No one was more aware of that fact than our late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. As his son, the current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, revealed in an interview with Vice Media on Monday during a ...