The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Illicit Drug Users Turn to Cannabis as ‘Safe Supply’ Option
August 11, 2023 | Pain News Network
The cannabis industry and its advocates have long said that medical marijuana could help solve the opioid crisis by reducing demand for prescription opioids. While the evidence for that claim is somewhat mixed, a new study suggests that cannabis may be useful in reducing demand for illicit opioids, ...
Six months into B.C.’s decriminalization experiment, what’s working and what’s not?
August 05, 2023 | Vancouver Sun
B.C. embarked on a first-in-Canada experiment at the beginning of this year with the decriminalization of small amounts of certain drugs in an effort to realign its response to the toxic drug poisoning crisis toward a health-oriented approach. Six months later, the reviews are mixed. While police se...
Edmonton substance users can get drugs checked at new downtown testing site
August 01, 2023 | CBC News
As overdoses in Edmonton reach record-high levels, users can visit a free drug-checking site that will analyze substances to determine what is in them and whether they’ve been cut with high-potency materials. The Spectrum drug testing program, which operates Monday and Friday afternoons at 105th ...
Advocates hope rookie minister acts quickly to tackle a wave of overdose deaths
July 28, 2023 | CBC News
Ya’ara Saks, Canada’s new minister of mental health and addictions, inherits a complex portfolio and an opioid crisis that has only gotten worse in almost every year since 2016. Advocates and addictions experts say they would like to see the new minister take a holistic approach to the crisis ...
‘This Is a Life or Death Facility and It Needs to Operate’
July 27, 2023 | The Tyee
On Monday Vancouver Coun. Peter Meiszner took to Twitter to announce the City of Vancouver wouldn’t be renewing the lease of the Thomus Donaghy Overdose Prevention Site. This overdose prevention site, or OPS, is located in Vancouver’s City Centre neighbourhood at Helmcken and Seymour, just one b...
