A new therapy aims to undo some of the harmful and restrictive patterns patients have been taught to ‘protect’ their back from pain. Instead, they’re learning to trust and move their body again.
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
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.
The US has seen a huge rise in drug deaths in the past decade involving a stimulant and a depressant.
A nurse dispenses liquid Methadose, an FDA-approved medication that helps people addicted to opioids.
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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)
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.
Opioids are the one of the most prescribed pain-relief for people with low back and neck pain. But new research shows they don’t effectively relieve low back or neck pain and can result in worse 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
Harm reduction is grounded in evidence. But policies, stigma and ignorance about substance use still create barriers in battling Canada’s drug poisoning crisis.
TENS machines for period pain are all over social media. But what are they? And do they work?
Opioid neurotransmitters are located in many areas of the body, including the brain, spine and gut.
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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.
Barbara Kingsolver’s protagonist, Demon, is much more than his drug habit.
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning author is just one of many artists from Appalachia who are probing the crisis in their work, while taking pains to ensure that it doesn’t define the region and its people.
The use of naloxone administered by nasal spray can be a lifesaving drug with minimal side effects.
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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
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.
Pills are one of the more common ways of ingesting opioids.
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Pennsylvania has long had one of the highest death rates from drug overdose in the US. But new studies suggest counties throughout the state have different rates of opioid deaths.
Eating culinary poppy seeds won’t get you high, but they could lead to a failed drug test.
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Poppy seeds can become contaminated with opiates during harvesting. For the US Defense Department, invoking a ‘poppy seed defense’ may not be enough to rule out a positive drug test result.
A supervised consumption site in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, in 2021. B.C. has decriminalized simple possession of drugs, including methamphetamines and opioids.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Supervised consumption sites provide essential community connections and services for those who use them. By closing them, governments are risking the welfare of people who use drugs.
The best treatment for heroin dependence is opioid agonist treatment, where a similar but longer-acting opioid is provided in a regular dose, often with counselling or other support.
Matthew Perry’s colon ruptured as a result of his opioid use.
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Matthew Perry recently revealed that his colon burst as a result of long-term opioid abuse.
The cannabis plant produces both THC – the psychoactive component in marijuana – and the compound commonly known as CBD, which does not lead to a ‘high.’
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