The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
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...
More than 7,000 lives lost to toxic drugs in 5 years — and this B.C. health crisis is only getting worse
April 14, 2021 | CBC News
As B.C. marks five years since declaring a public health emergency due to opioid deaths, the provincial government has announced it will be making its request official in Ottawa to become the first province in the country to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs. B.C. Min...
Let users carry certain amounts of drugs without criminal sanctions: Vancouver mayor
April 12, 2021 | Vancouver Sun
The City of Vancouver has outlined the amounts of various drugs people should be allowed to carry as it seeks a federal exemption to decriminalize possession for personal use. Its proposal to combat the overdose crisis is part of an application to Health Canada. It lists possession thresholds for fo...
Guy Felicella: Treating addiction means treating trauma
April 07, 2021 | Vancouver Sun
According to Statistics Canada, an estimated six million Canadians will meet the criteria for a substance use disorder at some point in their lifetime. Many of those people will never receive the treatment they need, which means our health-care system is failing a fifth of our population on this sin...
