The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
In British Columbia, Drug Policy Rollbacks Are Limiting HIV Care
February 10, 2026 | Filter
Harley Ransom began practicing harm reduction in southeastern Ontario in the late 1980s, when he was 6 years old. His mother was injecting heroin, so he learned how to clean her wounds and shoplift syringes from pharmacies. His mother contracted HIV from her boyfriend, so Ransom also learned not to ...
B.C.’s drug decriminalization pilot ends, questions remain over path forward
February 01, 2026 | CityNews Vancouver
As B.C.’s drug decriminalization project comes to an end, public opinion on its effectiveness is split. The province decided against renewing the three-year pilot project, citing a lack of results. However, those familiar with the impact caused by the policy shift said it made a real difference. ...
DULF Challenge: Health Canada Official Flounders on the Stand
January 29, 2026 | Filter
A senior Canadian bureaucrat struggled on the witness stand to reconcile past statements by the federal government with its claim in court that it was not completely closed off to the idea of a non-medical safe supply model. The January 26 hearing was for a constitutional challenge to the crimin...
Provincewide alert warns of contaminated drugs
January 28, 2026 | Vancouver Sun
B.C. officials issued a rare provincewide alert over an increase in toxic drug poisonings, saying Monday that unregulated drugs contaminated with medetomidine are the most likely cause. During the week of Jan. 16 to 22, B.C. paramedics responded to over 1,100 drug-poison�...
‘Missing safeguards’ compromising legal rights of B.C. involuntary care patients: report
January 27, 2026 | CityNews Vancouver
58 per cent of all patients receiving involuntary care in B.C. have access to key legal safeguards in the form of medical documentation on their detention, according to a new report by the province’s ombudsperson. But missing documents are compromising the legal rights of the remaining 42 per cent...
