The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Benzodiazepines found in 55 fatal overdoses in July as contamination mounts in B.C.
September 23, 2022 | CBC News
The memory might be hazy, but Hugh Lampkin says he will never forget the day he unwittingly took benzodiazepine in a desperate attempt to alleviate severe pain in his back. He thought he was taking heroin, before collapsing head-first onto a steel safe in a back room at the Vancouver Area Netwo...
‘This program’s really saved us’: As Canada offers safer opioids to curb overdoses, will U.S. follow?
September 21, 2022 | STAT News
TORONTO — The Finks, married just a month earlier, sat down for their appointment, Kim dressed in head-to-toe pink and Chris in all black. He was taciturn, while she joked she couldn’t stop talking long enough to have her blood pressure taken. Jouvence Tshiyoyo Bukumba, a nurse, asked Kim, 46, a...
Safer opioid supply program leads to drop in hospitalizations, ER visits: study
September 19, 2022 | CTV News Toronto
Safe opioid supply programs can significantly cut down on emergency department visits and hospitalizations for people at high risk for overdose, new research from Ontario suggests. A study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal examined people who used a safer opioid supply pro...
Eby and Appadurai Differ on Compulsory Drug Treatment
September 15, 2022 | The Tyee
When BC NDP leader hopeful David Eby last month said people who have overdosed from toxic drugs twice in a day should be given compulsory treatment instead of being discharged from the hospital, the response from harm reduction advocates was swift and skeptical. Eby’s competitor for the BC NDP lea...
More comprehensive services required to curb B.C. drug deaths, doctor says
September 15, 2022 | Toronto Star
VANCOUVER – Maria Rantanen did everything she could to stop her son from fatally overdosing, but it wasn’t enough. Michael Rantanen died on July 15. He was 25 years old. He was one of the 192 drug-related deaths British Columbia’s coroner recorded in July. The toll is a 31 per cent increas...
