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Articles on Overdose deaths

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Peter Krykant’s unsanctioned overdose prevention centre allowed users in Glasgow to take drugs in his medically equipped van. Iain Masterton/Alamy

Drug deaths are rising and overdose prevention centres save lives, so why is the UK unwilling to introduce them?

There are around 200 supervised injection facilities around the world but the UK government remains opposed to their introduction
Annie Storey holds a cross with a photo of her late son Alex Storey, before a march to mark the five-year anniversary of British Columbia declaring a public health emergency in the overdose crisis, in Vancouver, on April 14, 2021. CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Overdose crisis: The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare decades of drug policy failures

Across the country, overdose deaths have spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Donald Trump displays a presidential memorandum he signed, declaring the opioid crisis a public health emergency in the East Room of the White House, Oct. 26, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Why Canada should declare a national opioid emergency too

Opioids kill an average of eight people every day in Canada. The federal government must officially declare this a ‘public welfare emergency’ and invest the funds critical to a humane response.
A safe injecting facility is a priority for Melbourne, but more can be done Australia wide. Julian Smith/AAP

A medically supervised injection facility matters for Victoria – and for more inclusive mental health support

The parliamentary inquiry into establishing an injecting room in Victoria has failed to make any recommendations. This is despite finding drug use is at crisis levels in the area.
There is growing evidence for the use of cannabis in treating opioid addiction. (Shutterstock)

Legal weed: An accidental solution to the opioid crisis?

As Canada moves towards legalization of cannabis in 2018, there is growing evidence of the drug’s potential to treat opioid addiction itself, as well as the chronic pain that often drives it.
Will stricter controls on painkillers curb abuse and addiction? Stock images of pills from www.shutterstock.com

Do stricter controls curb opioid abuse?

Americans consume a staggering amount of the opioid painkiller hydrocodone - about 99% of the world’s supply. In October, after 10 years of debate the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reclassified medications…
Opioid addicts now being armed with overdose antidote. Gretchen Ertl/Reuters

Explainer: naloxone, the antidote to opioid overdose

Many first responders’ – even some university police officers – are carrying a new tool in their first-aid kits. It’s naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote drug, and today it’s more widely available than…
Young people want better information about illicit drugs so they can make informed choices. from www.shutterstock.com

Six reasons Australia should pilot ‘pill testing’ party drugs

The death of 19-year-old Georgina Bartter at a music festival on the weekend from a suspected ecstasy overdose could possibly have been avoided with a simple harm-minimisation intervention. Pill testing…
People overdose from illicit substances, such as heroin, or prescription medications, such as valium or opioid painkillers. Thomas Marthinsen/Flickr

Three things you need to know about drug overdoses

In 2012, 103,000 people around the world lost their lives to drug poisoning or overdose. As terrible as this waste of life seems, it’s important to remember that drug overdoses are not inevitably fatal…
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death has caused old myths about heroin to come to the fore again. ANDREW GOMBERT/EPA

Three persistent myths about heroin use and overdose deaths

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death earlier this week from a suspected heroin overdose unleashed the usual media coverage of deaths related to this drug. While the actor’s actual cause of death has not yet…
Existing evidence for distributing naloxone to prevent overdose deaths is weak. intropin/Flickr

Should naloxone be used to reduce opioid overdoses?

It’s now almost two years since ACT chief minister and minister for health, Katy Gallagher, launched Australia’s first program to distribute naloxone to prevent heroin overdoses. Other states have followed…

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