The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
‘Like a bomb dropping’: Safer supply changes leave patients struggling for stability
October 14, 2025 | The Discourse
Lenae Silva makes a trip to the pharmacy every day where she gets a slow-release fentanyl patch that covers half her back and a dose of quick-release fentanyl tablets, which she takes half of at the pharmacy and is allowed to take half home for a second dose later in the day. She started smoking met...
Get Your Drugs Tested
October 03, 2025 | Penticton Herald
It’s ironic, in a way. All the testing here in the Downtown Eastside is done anonymously, yet the name of the service couldn’t be more straightforward: Get Your Drugs Tested (GYDT). The simplicity reflects the philosophy — that honesty and openness are often the most practical, accessible, and...
Opinion: Criminalizing drug use won’t solve addiction
October 01, 2025 | Calgary Herald
I almost spit out my coffee when I read the headline and premise of last week’s opinion column by Marshall Smith, the former chief of staff to the premier of Alberta: “Banning public drug use is bold, courageous and obvious.” I’ve been sober for more than 12 years. Before that, I spent three...
Mixed reaction to B.C. premier’s announcement of new involuntary care facilities
September 27, 2025 | CBC News
Councillors in two B.C. communities are welcoming the premier’s announcement of involuntary care facilities amid public safety concerns, even as a drug policy academic says forcing people into drug treatment is ineffective. B.C. Premier David Eby announced Friday at the Union of B.C. Municipalitie...
Swept aside: Study links Vancouver’s ‘street sweeps’ of homeless to greater risk of overdose, violence
September 03, 2025 | Vancouver Sun
Controversial “street sweeps” carried out by the City of Vancouver between 2021 and 2023 to clear makeshift housing and personal belongings from public spaces put homeless residents at greater risk, a new Simon Fraser University study suggests. The study found that those who had items confiscate...
