Majority of cannabis use for therapeutic purposes, may also reduce overdose risk: New research from BC Centre on Substance Use
May 26, 2020

Most people at high risk of overdose in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside who use cannabis do so for pain relief and other therapeutic reasons—and they may be at lower risk of overdosing on opioids as a result, according to newly-published research from the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU). Researchers from the BCCSU and the University of B...

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BCCSU scholar wins the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship
April 17, 2020

Jennifer Lavalley, a PhD student at the University of British Columbia and Project Coordinator at the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), has been awarded a 2020 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship. She is one of only 16 scholars to receive the prestigious research award this year. Lavalley’s research will explore the experiences of Ind...

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New clinical guidance to reduce risk for people during dual health emergencies
March 24, 2020

To help reduce the risks to people who use substances, the Province has announced new clinical guidance, effective immediately, for health-care providers to stem the spread of COVID-19 and respond to the ongoing overdose emergency. The provincial clinical guidance incorporates the federal government’s recent exemptions to the Controlled Drugs and...

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Statement from BCCSU on COVID-19
March 18, 2020

The declaration on March 17, 2020 of a public health emergency related to COVID-19 means that British Columbia is now facing two concurrent crises: one, the rapidly escalating spread of the novel coronavirus and another, the ongoing opioid overdose crisis. Our responses to these two emergencies are not unrelated: people who use drugs may have other...

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New study reveals federal crackdown on poppers may create health risks for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men
March 3, 2020

A 2013 federal crackdown on alkyl nitrites, commonly known as “poppers,” may be putting gay, bi and other men who have sex with men at risk by driving them to access an unregulated – and potentially unsafe – supply, according to a new study from researchers at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) and the University o...

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