• This study highlights the beneficial ways in which health services tailored for people who use drugs can create a stigma-free environment with an emphasis on social bonds.
• Other factors such as transportation access, dispensing policies, and access in rural hospitals and custodial settings produced unique challenges for rural people who use drugs.
• Public health authorities in rural and smaller settings should consider these factors when designing, implementing, and scaling up future substance use services, including TiOAT programs.

We encourage NSS-CoP members to email info@nss-aps.ca with submissions to include in our newsletter. Content examples include but are not limited to community-led projects, peer-reviewed articles, grey literature, government publications, etc.

• Conway, A., et al. (2023). “You'll come in and dose even in a global pandemic”: a qualitative study of adaptive opioid agonist treatment provision during the COVID-19 pandemic | International Journal of Drug Policy
• Gozdzialski, L., et al. (2023). Point-of-care community drug checking technologies: an insider look at the scientific principles and practical considerations | Harm Reduction Journal
• Magnolini, R., et al. (2023). Substances from unregulated drug markets – A retrospective data analysis of customer-provided samples from a decade of drug checking service in Zurich (Switzerland) | International Journal of Drug Policy
• Sibley, A. L., et al. (2023). “I am not a junkie”: Social categorization and differentiation among people who use drugs | International Journal of Drug Policy
• Frank, D., et al. (2023). Covid-19-related changes to drug-selling networks and their effects on people who use illicit opioids | Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 
• Di Paola, F., et al. (2023). Involuntary Hospital Admission in the Treatment of People With Severe Substance Use Disorder | Canadian Journal of Addiction 
• Costa, T., et al. (2023). Maintaining Evidence-based Opioid Agonist Treatment During a Methadone to Buprenorphine Rotation With Slow-release Oral Morphine | Canadian Journal of Addiction 
• Ali, F., et al. (2023). Withdrawal Management Practices and Services in Canada: A Cross-Sectional National Survey on the Management of Opioid Use Disorder | Canadian Journal of Addiction
• Henderson, R., et al. (2023). A realist review of best practices and contextual factors enhancing treatment of opioid dependence in Indigenous contexts | Harm Reduction Journal
• Suarez, E. Jr., et al. (2023). Adaptation of the Tele-Harm Reduction intervention to promote initiation and retention in buprenorphine treatment among people who inject drugs: a retrospective cohort study | Annals of Medicine
• Brien, R., et al. (2023). Co-designing drug alerts for health and community workers for an emerging early warning system in Victoria, Australia | Harm Reduction Journal 
• Rush, B., et al. (2023). A National Environmental Scan of Public Withdrawal Management Services in Canada | Canadian Journal of Addiction 
• Russell, E., et al. (2023). A scoping review of implementation considerations for harm reduction vending machines | Harm Reduction Journal 
• van Draanen, J., et al. (2023). Pathways connecting socioeconomic marginalization and overdose: A qualitative narrative synthesis | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• Parker, D. G., et al. (2023). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medications for opioid use disorder services in the U.S. and Canada: a scoping review | Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy 
• Smithenry, D. W., et al. (2023). Building a statewide network of MOUD expertise using tiered ECHO® mentoring opportunities | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Hoffman, K. A., et al. (2023). “Just fighting for my life to stay alive”: a qualitative investigation of barriers and facilitators to community re-entry among people with opioid use disorder and incarceration histories | Addiction Science & Clinical Practice 
• Holland, A., et al. (2023). Drug decriminalization: The importance of policy change for the health and wellbeing of children and youth in Canada | Paediatrics & Child Health 
• Colledge-Frisby, S., et al. (2023). Incidence of suicide and self-harm among people with opioid use disorder and the impact of opioid agonist treatment: a retrospective data linkage study | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Perlmutter, D., et al. (2023). “Another tool in the toolkit”—Perceptions, suggestions, and concerns of emergency service providers about the implementation of a supervised consumption site | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• Ladha, K. S., et al. (2022). The association between opioid prescribing and opioid-related mortality within neighborhoods in Ontario, Canada: a case control study | Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
• Cuperfain, A. B., et al. (2023). Extended-release monthly buprenorphine injection | Canadian Medical Association Journal
• Tilhou, A. S., et al. (2023). Differences in drug use behaviors that impact overdose risk among individuals who do and do not use fentanyl test strips for drug checking | Harm Reduction Journal
• Curtis, M., et al. (2023). Is use of opioid agonist treatment associated with broader primary healthcare use among men with recent injecting drug use histories following release from prison? A prospective cohort study | Harm Reduction Journal

2023 Stimulus Conference: Registration is now open for Stimulus 2023, the largest national harm reduction and drug policy gathering in Canada! Stimulus 2023 is a two-and-a-half day event scheduled October 5-7, 2023 in Ottawa, Ontario. They expect to welcome 1,500 people whose expertise includes substance use experts, nurses, social workers, physicians, corrections staff, frontline workers, people involved in sex work, researchers, and other key stakeholders from across Canada. You can register now here!

Public Health 2023 - Canadian Public Health Association: Public Health 2023 is the national conference where public health professionals, researchers, policy-makers, academics, students, and trainees come together to strengthen efforts to improve health and well-being, to share the latest research and information, to promote best practices and to advocate for public health issues and policies grounded in research. CPHA will embrace technology and present sessions June 20th to 22nd from 11am to 4:30pm EDT daily. Find more information and important dates here!

Harm reduction in acute care: Let's talk! - Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO): Join the RNAO for their next webinar happening on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 12-1pm EST. In what some call, the “post-pandemic,” the overdose crisis remains an epidemic. Nurses play an integral role in harm reduction, and save lives that would be otherwise needlessly lost. Harm reduction is a foundational component of nursing practice.  It involves policies, programmes and practices that aim primarily to reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of the use of legal and illegal psychoactive drugs without necessarily reducing drug consumption.  Harm reduction has been proven effective time and time again across the health care continuum, including in acute care settings, which can prove particularly challenging. This webinar will provide a general overview of the philosophy of harm reduction, provide clarity to the role of harm reduction in acute care and provide practical strategies for integration of harm reduction principles into acute care practice. Register here.

Opioid Use Disorder and Continuity of Care When Transitioning Between Settings: From Acute Care to Community: The next BC ECHO on Substance Use Session is on Thursday, April 13 at 12-1pm PST | 3-4pm EST. By the end of this session, participants will be able to 1) describe the risks, challenges, and considerations related to transitions between acute care setting and community care, 2) describe how to facilitate continued opioid use disorder (OUD) care for a person transitioning from acute care, and 3) discuss strategies to communicate effectively with other care providers as patients transition in and out of acute care settings. Presenter: Dr. Olivia Brooks. Register here.

Connected Communities: Building Equitable Integrated Healthcare: The Alliance for Healthier Communities will hold the annual primary health care conference, Connected Communities: Building Equitable Integrated Healthcare, on June 7-8, 2023, at the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel & Suites. At the Connected Communities conference, they will focus on community-led innovation and solutions tapping into new research results and evidence-informed practices that are demonstrating how integrated care systems that focus on health equity and community are improving population health outcomes. Register now!

Confronting the Drug War - Drug User-oriented Harm Reduction and Drug Policy (Session Four, The Drug War and Journalism): This series is hosted by the SU x COVID Data Collaborative's Policy Working Group alongside the UCLA Center for Social Medicine, Yale Program in Addiction Medicine, School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences Program D3S, National Survivors Union, Drug Policy Alliance, and FORE Foundation. Join them as they invite activists who use drugs and harm reduction researchers to a series of discussions about reforming drug use policy, deconstructing the disease model of addiction, and alternate ways of thinking about drug use. For the fourth session on April 5th, 2023, they've invited Sam Fenn, Manisha Krishnan, Garth Mullins, and Zachary Siegel for a moderated discussion about the drug war and journalism. Register now!

5th Annual British Columbia Substance Use Conference: The British Columbia Centre on Substance Use conference planning committee is excited to announce that the 5th annual BC Substance Use Conference will be held April 20th to 22nd, 2023. To enable provincial-wide participation, BCCSU will be hosting a blended conference this year, with both virtual and in-person options for attendance. The in-person program will be held at the JW Marriott Park Vancouver. The conference theme this year is The Challenge of Change. Registration is now open!

META:PHI Webinar Series 2023: Check out and register for the META:PHI webinar series line up for 2023. META:PHI hosts a virtual presentation on the second Wednesday of each month from 7:00pm to 8:30pm EST. These sessions are intended for service providers who work with people who use substances. All sessions are free.

• New innovative research provides a better understanding of the intersection of characteristics associated with opioid overdose
• The Chronic Challenge of Burnout Among Harm Reduction Workers 
• 'Tranq dope': Dangerous animal tranquillizer spreading in Canada's street drugs

• BC Budget Focuses on Increasing Treatment Options in Drug Crisis 
• Premier 'astonished' at B.C. firm's claim it got Health Canada approval to make and sell cocaine 
• No, a BC Company Can’t Sell You Cocaine Now 
• Safe supply needs to be focus after $1-billion investment in addiction care: advocate 
• BC’s Toxic Death Toll Is Not Budging 
• Failure to regulate toxic drugs kills another 211 people in BC in January 
• Nanaimo leads Vancouver Island in toxic drug deaths in January 
• 7 years into crisis, politicians still struggle to see drug users as people, Dr. Bonnie Henry says 
• 30 New West residents lost to drug poisoning crisis in 2022 
• First-of-its-kind report provides deep dive into harm reduction, drug testing at Shambhala, Bass Coast 
• Why calls are growing in B.C. to fund more overdose prevention sites 
• Island Health testing overdose-detecting sensors in select washrooms 
• Northern B.C. First Nations say they need more resources to deal with the illicit drug crisis 
• Legal group in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside cautions B.C. against involuntary care 
• BC Indigenous Drug Users Describe Pattern of Forced Discharges From ED 
• 'It's not just fentanyl anymore': B.C. sets new record high for overdose calls as concerns grow over 'tranq' drug
• BC Workers are Being Forced Into Mandatory Drug Testing and Private ‘Recovery’ Programs

• Calgary woman seeking ‘narrow, individual exemption’ over Alberta opioid restrictions 
• Ophelia Black in her own words 
• Alberta doctors pushed for changes to opioid strategy 
• Why I’m Fighting the Deadly Alberta Drug Model 
• Alberta Revokes Pharmacy Access for “High-Potency” Safe Supply Opioids 
• A look inside the drugs circulating in Calgary 
• Government of Canada announces over $13 million to help address harms related to substance use in the Prairies, Northwest Territories and Yukon 
• “A Stable Foundation”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Suing Alberta for Safe Supply 
• Proposed overdose prevention site in Ritchie gets city permit, provincial approval still needed 
• 'No one silver bullet': Gondek says safe supply alone won't solve downtown disorder problems

• Prairie Harm Reduction expands drug testing abilities with spectrometer 
• Safe consumption sites again left out of Sask. addictions spending 
• 1,200 people have died from overdoses in Saskatchewan in 3 years. Who were they? 
• Make fentanyl test strips ubiquitous, like free condoms and COVID rapid tests, says grieving mother 
• Medical students join opposition at Sask. Legislature to call for harm reduction initiatives
• Sask. medical students to ask provincial government to pay for and distribute naloxone 

• More emphasis needed on safe drug supply: advocate 
• Province digs in amid calls for OD stats release 
• Manitoba proposes rules for supervised consumption sites ⁠— but still won't endorse harm-reduction approach 
• 'A crisis in our community': Manitoba harm reduction projects receive $2M in funding 
• Feds back supervised consumption sites day after Manitoba introduces bill on licensing them 
• Drug site bill draws praise, criticism from area advocates 
• 'Toxic drug supply is killing our relatives': Animal tranquillizer found in overdose death reports in Winnipeg 
• Bill 33 snares harm reduction in red tape 
• New technology bringing harm reduction supplies to those who need it 
• New dispensing machines will use handprint technology to deliver harm reduction supplies in Manitoba

• Niagara region declares state of emergency for homelessness, mental health and opioid addiction 
• Local leaders express growing support for drug decriminalization 
• Two warnings issued after deadly week of overdoses in Timmins 
• “Safer supply… is what’s giving us hope”: Peterborough safer supply pilot program to continue 
• Deadly Stigma: new report sounds alarm on toxic drug overdoses in Simcoe Muskoka region 
• St. Thomas needs a supervised drug consumption site, advocates say 
• Government of Canada announces over $7 million to help address harms related to substance use in Ontario 
• Meth-related ER visits on the rise in Ontario, following western Canada trend: study 
• 'A huge thing': Advocate applauds St. Thomas council openness to drug site 
• Harm reduction toolkit for Indigenous friendship centres launched 
• In Toronto, more than three homeless people died on average every week last year, new data shows 
• Toolkit to address opioid crisis in urban Indigenous communities 
• Friendship Centres ‘deeply concerned’ with opioid, HIV crisis 
• Accent: Inside Sudbury's supervised consumption site 
• Toronto wants to expand drug decriminalization, covering all ages and substances
• Harm-reduction group using new tool hoping to prevent more fatal overdoses
• ‘A safe place where staff have eyes on you’

• Government of Canada announces over $13 million to help address harms related to substance use in the Prairies, Northwest Territories and Yukon 
• N.W.T. wants to contract an Indigenous-led treatment facility, but none are bidding for the work 

• Supervised injection site CACTUS Montréal to cut hours despite rise in fentanyl overdoses
• Le nombre d’appels d’urgence liés aux opioïdes est plus élevé à Edmonton qu’à Calgary 
• Des drogues de plus en plus toxiques provoquent davantage de surdoses à Thunder Bay 
• Une Calgarienne est exemptée des restrictions de la province sur les opioïdes 
• Surdose d’opioïde : un cours pour lutter contre la stigmatisation des personnes à risque 
• C.-B: le feu vert de Santé Canada à une entreprise pour vendre de la cocaïne étonne 
• Des Néo-Brunswickois risquent de mourir faute de services de désintoxication 
• Augmentation de l’apport de xylazine et de benzodiazépines dans l’approvisionnement en drogues non réglementées de l’Ontario 
• Réaction prudente aux investissements contre la crise des opioïdes au Yukon 
• Les élus ont encore du mal à voir les toxicomanes comme des personnes, selon Bonnie Henry 
• Surdoses d’opioïdes et décès à la hausse dans plusieurs régions en Ontario 
• Drogues de rue : la présence accrue de xylazine inquiète la santé publique de Montréal 
• Le centre de prévention des surdoses à Charlottetown n’ouvrira pas à l’endroit prévu 
• La tragédie des étudiants étrangers victimes de surdoses 
• Un projet de loi sur les centres de consommation supervisée ne fait pas l’unanimité 
• Une drogue à base de fentanyl contenant un tranquillisant pour animaux sévit à Winnipeg 
• Un centre de prévention de surdose a l’appui d’Edmonton, mais attend celui de la province 
• Un centre intégrera perspectives autochtones et drogues psychédéliques dans ses recherches
• Des distributeurs automatiques de naloxone et de seringues bientôt disponibles à Winnipeg
• Appel pour que des bandelettes de test de fentanyl soient plus accessibles en Saskatchewan

• Neighbours speak out about supervised injection site in Charlottetown 
• PEERS Alliance to operate overdose prevention site in Charlottetown 
• Charlottetown’s new overdose prevention site explained by harm reduction co-ordinator, PEERS Alliance 
• Overdose crisis part of a larger issue according to Moncton officials