The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Vancouver plan to decriminalize street drugs sets up battle with Ottawa
December 03, 2020 | The Guardian
Vancouver has set the stage for a showdown with Canada’s federal government by moving to become the first city in the country to decriminalize street drugs – setting itself on a collision course with Justin Trudeau, who has so far declined to pursue the option. The city’s council voted unanimo...
Cannabis a potential harm reduction tool for youth at risk of fatal overdose, research shows
December 03, 2020 | National Observer
Canada’s overdose crisis — fuelled by increasingly toxic street drugs and compounded by COVID-19 — is going into overdrive, and youth are particularly vulnerable, researchers say. But research suggests novel approaches might help youth struggling with illicit drugs, and mitigate the risk of ...
Young adults, unfairly blamed for COVID-19 spread, now face stress and uncertain futures
November 29, 2020 | The Conversation
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic there was an enormous amount of concern and attention focused on elderly people — and for good reason: people over the age of 65 years are among the most vulnerable to serious health complications, including death, from the virus. It did not take long, h...
Vancouver Just Voted to Decriminalize All Drugs
November 25, 2020 | VICE
Vancouver city council unimously voted on Wednesday to proceed with a plan to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of all illicit drugs—from heroin to meth—as a way to help curb the province’s worsening overdose crisis that has been exacerbated by the pandemic and an increasingly toxi...
Vancouver Cannabis Substitution Project assumes ‘Doobie Van’ operations
November 21, 2020 | Michelle Gamage
It’s a drizzly grey November day and the whoop of sirens sound every 10 minutes as first responders push their way through the traffic of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Cannabis activist Neil Magnuson pokes his head out of a parked RV to check where the sirens are coming from. When he sees the...
