The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
B.C. paramedics, dispatchers responded to record-setting 35,525 overdose calls in 2021
January 12, 2022 | Global News
Paramedics and medical dispatchers in B.C. responded to a record-setting 35,525 overdose calls last year. It’s an increase of 31 per cent from 2020, said BC Emergency Health Services in a Wednesday news release. Surrey saw the greatest increase with a total of 3,674 calls — 50 per cent more...
Benzodiazepines ‘a major problem’ in illicit drug supply
January 02, 2022 | CBC News
Within a fraction of a second, Speedy says he knew something was wrong. In September, the longtime drug user, who didn’t want CBC to use his real name, unwittingly smoked fentanyl spiked with a benzodiazepine. He says he seized up and just managed to make it to a safe space before he lost co...
Failure to mention opioid crisis in ministerial mandate letters sends wrong signal, advocates say
December 21, 2021 | CBC News
By not explicitly mentioning the opioid crisis in any ministerial mandate letters, advocates are concerned the government is signalling a lack of commitment to addressing the issue. Since 2016, almost 25,000 people have died of apparent opioid toxicity deaths in Canada and experts anticipate fatali...
Key tools to prevent opioid overdoses are missing from Ottawa’s orders to tackle the crisis, advocates say
December 21, 2021 | Toronto Star
As many as 4,000 Canadians could die from opioid-related overdoses in the first half of 2022, according to new modelling projections. Yet two of the key issues that advocates say must be tackled by Ottawa in order to get the crisis under control — decriminalization and safe supply — are absent f...
B.C.’s functional and psychedelic mushroom industry is having a shroom boom
December 14, 2021 | BCBusiness
Craig and Brandi Garden, co-founders of Surrey-based Eversio Wellness, are big believers in functional mushrooms He may have the right name for the job, but it took Craig Garden some time to find his passion. The Surrey native spent years as a project manager for various consulting firms before he ...
