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.
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.
Harm reduction is grounded in evidence. But policies, stigma and ignorance about substance use still create barriers in battling Canada’s drug poisoning crisis.
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.
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.
More than 50 overdoses happen in bathrooms every month in British Columbia. Public bathrooms can be made safer for everyone, including people who use substances.
Australians bought more than 65 million packs of paracetamol pain relief last year. TGA efforts to reduce its potential harms will need to take those who use it to manage pain into consideration.
Fentanyl’s wide availability in the drug supply has led to an increase in unintentional overdoses. While prevention strategies are available, limited availability stymies their use.
We researched how much difference opioids like codeine, oxycodone or morphine make to osteoarthritis pain. We found they helped about as much as paracetamol. Yet they are far more dangerous.
Fentanyl adulteration led to the replacement of heroin in the unregulated drug supply of British Columbia. Now that benzodiazepines are present in many opioids, are we headed towards a ‘new normal?’
Decriminalization is an important step in addressing the overdose crisis, but it is crucial that other approaches — like regulation — are also in place.