The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
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...
Too early to draw conclusions about drop in toxic drug deaths, professor says
February 04, 2025 | CBC News
Kora DeBeck, a research scientist with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, says that a 13 per cent drop in toxic drug deaths in 2024 compared to 2023 may not be the start of a trend. She says that other jurisdictions across North America also saw illicit drug deaths drop last year, and there are still...
How cannabis is helping Downtown Eastside residents get off hard drugs
January 18, 2025 | Georgia Straight
Jen Nelson is known as the cannabis angel of the Downtown Eastside. She regularly roams through the area, gifting people with joints, edibles, and weed to aid relaxation and ease devastating drug withdrawal symptoms. Several years ago, however, she herself was strung out after a series of damaging c...
The Case of the Marijuana Museum
January 17, 2025 | The Tyee
To get into the Vancouver School of Drug War History and Organic Cultivation, would-be cannabis buyers had to first answer a skill-testing question that showed they had taken part in a one-hour walking tour. “The cops… tried getting access to the school just by tapping on the window like eve...
