Meeting Minutes:

Meeting minutes can be found in the meeting notes and resources folder on the National Safer Supply Community of Practice Google Drive.

• Stigma and Substance Use: Getting to Tomorrow, a project of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, recently published a new video discussing stigma and substance use. Here's a brief description: "At the heart of our broken system of drug policies lie underlying assumptions about people who use drugs. These negative stereotypes create the laws that prohibit drug use and influence how we treat people who use substances. Stigma is both individual and systemic—how we treat others, and how institutions like hospitals and the legal system treat people. These negative, inaccurate stereotypes of people who use drugs have been borne out in popular culture, media, and everyday interactions. They create barriers to accessing social and health services as people who feel stigmatized will be less likely to seek help and talk openly about their substance use. By changing the way we think, we can change the way we act."
   
• Public Health Ontario recently released an evidence brief called Novel Non-Fentanyl Synthetic Opioids: Risk Assessment and Implications for Practice. It provides key messages and evidence, as well as a substantial list of references and citations for review. One interesting finding in this document highlights the importance and desperate need for safer supply programs to save lives: "Drug checking, supervised consumption services (SCS), or safer supply programs may play an even more important role in preventing opioid-related morbidity and mortality as a result of increased exposure to a more varied and toxic unregulated drug supply, including benzimidazole-opioids, fentanyl/fentanyl analogues, benzodiazepines, and other NPS."
   
• There is now a Withdrawal Management Services Manual available on META:PHI. This manual was created for providers working in residential community-based withdrawal management services (WMS) to standardize care, improve documentation and information sharing, and provide quick access to relevant information.

Brothers, T. D., et al. 2022. Evaluation of an emergency safe supply drugs and managed alcohol program in COVID-19 isolation hotel shelters for people experiencing homelessness | BMJ PrePrint

Background: During a COVID-19 outbreak in the congregate shelter system in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, a multidisciplinary health care team provided an emergency “safe supply” of pharmaceutical-grade medications and beverage-grade alcohol to facilitate isolation in COVID-19 hotel shelters for residents who are dependent on these substances. We aimed to evaluate (a) substances and dosages provided, and (b) effectiveness and safety of the program.

Conclusions: An emergency safe supply and managed alcohol program, paired with housing, was associated with low rates of adverse events and high rates of successful completion of the 14-day isolation period in COVID-19 isolation hotel shelters. This supports the effectiveness and safety of emergency safe supply prescribing and managed alcohol in this setting.

Have a question that you’d like to ask? Email us: safersupplyon@gmail.com or send a message via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.

We encourage NSS-CoP members to email safersupplyon@gmail.com 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.

• McLean, K., & Kavanaugh, P. R., 2022. “I’m Not a Good Drug Dealer”: Styles of Buprenorphine Diversion in a Multisite Qualitative Study | Substance Use & Misuse
• Kaplowitz, E. et al. 2022. “It’s probably going to save my life;” Attitudes towards treatment among people incarcerated in the era of fentanyl | Drug and Alcohol Dependence
• Karamouzian, M. et al., 2022. Latent patterns of polysubstance use among people who use opioids: A systematic review | International Journal of Drug Policy
• O'Callaghan & Lambert, S., 2022. The impact of COVID-19 on health care professionals who are exposed to drug-related deaths while supporting clients experiencing addiction | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
• Samuels, E. A. et al., 2022. Buprenorphine Telehealth Treatment Initiation and Follow-Up During COVID-19 | Journal of General Internal Medicine

• Study: 'Safe supply' of drugs, alcohol lead to COVID compliance at isolation shelters
   
• Opioid overdose: A bioethicist explains why restricting supply may not be the right solution
   
• Why letting users know what's in the drugs they're taking is important as opioid deaths rise
   
• “They treat you with such disdain:” Experiences of overdose among people who inject drugs

• Ian Mulgrew: B.C.'s chief coroner laments lack of action as opioid crisis hits worst death toll yet
   
• BC Has a Safe Supply of Smokable Heroin and No One Can Use It Yet
   
• Mobile overdose prevention service opens in Abbotsford
   
• Mobile overdose prevention site in Abbotsford seeks to meet drug users where they are
   
• Island Health issues drug poisoning advisory for Greater Victoria
   
• Jean Swanson: Why I'm hoping COPE will nominate me to seek reelection to Vancouver city council
   
• Yukon declares substance use health emergency in response to opioid deaths
   
• Reaction to Yukon’s new substance use health emergency receiving mixed reviews
   
• 'I want them to live on': Yukon residents remember loved ones lost to opioids, drug overdose
   
• London, Ont.-based Safer Opioid Supply Program reporting dramatic drop in overdoses among clients
   
• London, Ont., study suggests a prescription can change a street drug user's life for the better
   
• London's safe drug supply program reducing overdoses, crime: new study
   
• Court to hear urgent appeal on Alberta ID policy for supervised drug-use sites
   
• Supervised consumption site user says ID policy could be harmful to Albertans
   
• Alberta safe supply committee starts work
   
• Harm-reduction program helping Indigenous people off reserves dealing with addiction
   
• Councillor wants city to explore decriminalizing possession of small amounts of illegal drugs
   
• 1/4 of Ontario opioid deaths follow ‘missed opportunities’: analysis
   
• Why is Canada’s deadly opioid overdose epidemic not a top priority for the Trudeau government?
   
• An Anti-overdose Drug Is Getting Stronger. Maybe That’s a Bad Thing?