Climate change is seeing more of us with mental health problems and harmful substance use. So we need to start planning now.
A tent on the sidewalk in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Cash transfers can help people find suitable accommodations and save governments money.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Researchers found that most homeless people spent the money they received on rent, food and other living costs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Instead of forcing people into substance use treatment, provinces should work with municipalities and health boards to expand life-saving safe use sites and tackle the housing crisis.
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
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.
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
Loneliness and social isolation are some of the strongest predictors of poor health. But many studies informing Canada’s new alcohol guidelines don’t consider social connection at all.
A wall at a supervised consumption site in Ottawa is decorated with notes written in chalk.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
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.
Bathrooms are common settings for overdose but can be made safer.
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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.
Canada’s previous low-risk drinking guidelines were much more generous, allowing significantly more drinks per week.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Canada’s new alcohol guidelines cut the number of drinks per week in the ‘low-risk’ category by almost half for women, and by more than half for men. Here’s how researchers came to these conclusions.
Health claims around CBD grew after the FDA approved a drug containing CBD to treat seizures from two rare forms of epilepsy.
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On the surface, sober months like Dry January and Dry February are great. But we need to broaden the discussion around how privilege and policy impact one’s relationship with alcohol and other drugs.
Research Scientist at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use & St. Paul's Hospital Chair in Substance Use Research and Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University