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Articles on Opioids

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Approaching the opioid crisis from a public health perspective includes massively increasing access to care and treatment for patients experiencing substance use disorder. (Shutterstock)

The roots of the North American opioid crisis, and 3 key strategies for stopping it

There were more than 100,000 opioid-related deaths in North America in 2022. How the crisis grew to such proportions, and three potential paths to ending it.
A registered nurse treats Dominic Rodriguez for a skin injury related to xylazine use in Philadelphia in May 2023. Treatment vans are allowed in the city, but not supervised injection sites. Matt Rourke/AP Photo

Philadelphia bans supervised injection sites – evidence suggests keeping drug users on the street could do more harm than good

A group of academics look at the global evidence to examine the potential impact of supervised injection sites in Philadelphia and the US.
People march to remember those who died during the drug poisoning crisis on International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Aug. 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Decriminalization: How police drug seizure, even without arrest, can create harms

A police policy of not making arrests for simple possession is a way to essentially decriminalize personal drug use. However, confiscating drugs — even without arrests — can be harmful in many ways.
A nurse dispenses liquid Methadose, an FDA-approved medication that helps people addicted to opioids. Whitney Hayward/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

Myths about will power and moral weakness keep people with opioid use disorder from receiving effective medications like methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone

Prescription medications can help people with opioid use disorder avoid the risks of relapse and overdose. But stigma based on misperceptions about addiction limits their use.
Drug checking is a harm reduction practice that provides chemical analysis of substances. Fentanyl test strips help drug users ensure that substances are free of dangerous fentanyl. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

Scaling up community drug-checking services in B.C. could help respond to the overdose crisis

Most consumables in Canada have quality controls that inform purchasing and consumption decisions. People who use illicit drugs deserve the same. Drug checking provides that harm-reduction service.
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.
Opioid neurotransmitters are located in many areas of the body, including the brain, spine and gut. ALIOUI Mohammed Elamine/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Your body naturally produces opioids without causing addiction or overdose – studying how this process works could help reduce the side effects of opioid drugs

Unlike opioid drugs like morphine and fentanyl that travel throughout the body, the opioids your body produces are released in small quantities to specific locations.
The use of naloxone administered by nasal spray can be a lifesaving drug with minimal side effects. TG23/iStock via Getty Images Plus

FDA approval of over-the-counter Narcan is an important step in the effort to combat the US opioid crisis

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Narcan will make the lifesaving drug more widely available, especially to those who might be likely to witness or respond to opioid overdoses.
Although xylazine is not an opioid, naloxone can reverse the effects of the fentanyl and heroin it is often mixed with. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

What is xylazine? A medical toxicologist explains how it increases overdose risk, and why Narcan can still save a life

Xylazine, or tranq, is increasingly being mixed with drugs like fentanyl or heroin and can be difficult to detect. Most people who use drugs are unable to tell if they have been exposed to it.

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