The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Street drugs poisoned with benzos can lead to ‘catastrophic’ overdoses: advocate
April 29, 2021 | Yahoo News Canada
VANCOUVER — A drug policy adviser to the City of Vancouver is warning of a dangerous drug saturating British Columbia’s illicit supply in much the same way fentanyl did several years ago. Karen Ward said unregulated benzodiazepines, or benzos, make overdoses more complex because they are oft...
British Columbia officially requests decriminalization of drug possession
April 27, 2021 | Drug & Alcohol Testing Association of Canada
On the fifth anniversary of declaring B.C.’s public health emergency for overdose deaths, B.C. will officially request a federal exemption from Health Canada to decriminalize personal possession of drugs. Since April 14, 2016, the BC Coroners Service reports illicit drugs have claimed the lives of...
Drug overdose deaths in Manitoba surge by 87% in 2020
April 20, 2021 | CBC News
On average, at least one person died per day of a drug overdose in Manitoba last year, according to new figures obtained by CBC News. Between January and December 2020, 372 people lost their lives to overdoses in the province, which exceeds all of 2019 by 87 per cent, according to preliminary data ...
Is crackdown on Rx opioid diversion fuelling overdose crisis?
April 20, 2021 | Securing Industry
High rates of overdose linked street drugs laced with fentanyl are causing drug users to seek out diverted prescription opioids, says a new study. The small study run in Vancouver, Canada, was based on interviews with people who use drugs (PWUDs) and are therefore at high risk of overdose if they bu...
How changing income assistance payment schedules impact drug use and related harm
April 15, 2021 | Medical Xpress
A study published this week in The Lancet Public Health examines how we can use our income assistance systems to address drug use and drug-related harm. The study, led by University of British Columbia (UBC) medical sociologist Dr. Lindsey Richardson and conducted at the British Columbia Centre on...
