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Articles on Opioid crisis

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Doctors have struggled to find the balance between effective pain management and the very real addiction risks that come with prescription pain medication. BackyardProduction/iStock via Getty Images Plus

White patients are more likely than Black patients to be given opioid medication for pain in US emergency departments

Undertreated pain can result in unnecessary suffering and a greater likelihood of long-term chronic pain.
Resistance to policies like safe supply still create barriers for vulnerable people, despite evidence that harm reduction saves lives. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Let evidence, not opinion, guide harm reduction policy and practice in Canada’s drug poisoning crisis

Harm reduction is grounded in evidence. But policies, stigma and ignorance about substance use still create barriers in battling Canada’s drug poisoning crisis.
Income inequality is the gap between the highest and lowest earners in a given area. It can contribute to people’s risk of poor health, and specifically mental health. (Shutterstock)

Deaths of despair: How income inequality puts Canadian youth at risk

Higher levels of income inequality in youth are associated with increased ‘deaths of despair’ in young Canadians.
A man runs past shoes hung on the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver in remembrance of victims of illicit drug overdoses on International Overdose Awareness Day in August 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Decriminalizing hard drugs in B.C. will help reduce the stigma of substance abuse

Decriminalization helps recharacterize drug addiction as a chronic health condition instead of a criminal activity, reduces the stigma associated with drug use and improves treatment options.
OxyContin, an opioid drug heavily marketed by Purdue Pharma, is associated with billions of dollars of health-care costs in Canada related to the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

$150M is not enough: Canada’s proposed Purdue Pharma settlement for opioid damages is paltry and won’t prevent future crises

The Purdue Pharma settlement is paltry compared to costs of the opioid crisis. Without major changes to pharma industry regulation, there is little reason to think a similar crisis won’t occur again.
B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson holds a copy of exemption documents that enable British Columbia to decriminalize possession of small amounts of ‘hard’ drugs for personal use. B.C.’s bold experiment will be closely watched as a comparator with other progressive jurisdictions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Decriminalizing hard drugs in B.C. follows decades of public health advocacy

British Columbia’s bold experiment provides an opportunity to implement more balance in Canadian drug policy, and a more principled withdrawal from the war on drugs.
Opioids can help reduce the amount of medication needed to achieve anesthesia. gpointstudio/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Why opting out of opioids can be dangerous in the operating room

Non-opioid directives allow patients to refuse opioids in all health care settings. For surgical procedures that require anesthesia, however, this may do more harm than good.
Game jams are powerful spaces for galvanizing creativity in disenfranchised communities. (Shutterstock)

Making video games can help support addiction recovery

Game making is an art form that many aren’t intimately familiar with. Unlike other creative practices, game makers must create the rules and laws that govern and shape player behaviours.
Methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine distributed by the Drug User Liberation Front, a grassroots organization proving a safe supply of illicit drugs, in Vancouver, in April 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Safer supply of opioids saves lives: Providing alternatives to toxic street drugs

People are dying from using a toxic drug supply. Safer supply and other approaches that listen to the needs of people who use drugs are critical to saving lives and addressing the opioid crisis.
The concept of placebos – which are sometimes called “sugar pills” – has been around since the 1800s. Wladimir Bulgar/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

In research studies and in real life, placebos have a powerful healing effect on the body and mind

Drug manufacturers often shun the use of placebos in clinical trials. But research suggests that placebos could play an important role in the treatment of depression, pain and other maladies.

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