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MEMBERSHIP FEEDBACK SURVEY
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In collaboration with the team at Transform Practice, we have now started an evaluation of the NSS-CoP and all the work that has been done since its creation! As part of this evaluation process, we're asking all NSS-CoP members to please take the time to fill out our membership feedback survey! We want to hear from you about what we are doing well, what hasn’t worked well, and what ideas you have for us. This survey has 18 questions (12 multiple choice and 6 open-ended) and will take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. The survey is anonymous. We do not collect your name or email address. Thank you in advance for participating and offering your feedback to help us grow as a community of practice, it is greatly valued!
English and French NSS-CoP 2021-22 Membership Feedback Survey
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Meeting Minutes:
Full meeting minutes can be found in the meeting notes and resources folder on the National Safer Supply Community of Practice Google Drive.
August 4th, 2022
- Program sustainability and funding
- Burnout within the harm reduction community
- The Forgotten 519
August 11th, 2022
- Downward trend of overdoses in certain regions and possible reasons
August 18th, 2022
- Guidelines on administering naloxone in different contexts
- Thursday drop-in informal presentation by First Nations Health Authority (FNHA)
- Toronto Drug Checking Service Report
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Advisory Council
- Purpose: Provide direction and feedback to the NSS-CoP Team.
- Current activities: Advising on evaluation and internal policies.
- Membership: Currently seeking representation from - RN/NPs, physicians, members of BIPOC communities and agencies providing services to BIPOC communities. No paid positions available at this time. Email Rebecca to join: rebecca@lihc.on.ca
- Next meeting date: Wednesday, September 28th at 2pm EDT.
Action for Safer Supply - People Who Use Drugs Working Group
- Purpose: As a working group composed exclusively of people who use drugs (PWUD), Action for Safer Supply advocates for expanded access to safer supply for PWUD across the country.
- Current activities: Developing and revising a National Advocacy Toolkit on Safer Supply, OAT, and Harm Reduction. The working group is also working on an anti-stigma and anti-shame campaign #NoShameNovember, to be launched in November 2022.
- Membership: No paid positions available at this time. Currently taking names for the waitlist. Email Alexandra to be added to the waitlist: alexandra@capud.ca
- Next meeting date: Friday, September 16th, 2022 at 1:30pm EDT.
Recommendations for Clinical Guidance Working Group
- Purpose: Using evidence, existing guidelines, and lived experience, create recommendations for guidance to support safer supply prescribing.
- Current activities: 2 subgroups - take home doses, urine drug screens. Creating a survey for prescribers to gather information about current practices and perspectives.
- Membership: Currently seeking clinician members (pharmacy, physicians, RNs, NPs, etc.). Email Rebecca to join: rebecca@lihc.on.ca. No paid positions at this time.
- Next meeting date: Monday, September 19th at 3pm EDT.
Access to Pharmaceuticals Working Group
- Purpose: Clarifying what pharmaceuticals are available in the various regions across Canada, producing a list of what pharmaceuticals should ideally be available for safer supply, and describing how the current system of pharmaceutical approvals works.
- Current activities: Creating a list of what pharmaceuticals are currently available (and what is covered) where and creating a list of what is not available and the reasons why.
- Membership: Currently seeking clinician members (pharmacy, physicians, RNs, NPs, etc.). Email Robyn to join: robyn.kalda@allianceon.org. No paid positions available at this time.
- Next meeting date: Wednesday, September 21st at 1pm EDT.
Program Operations Meeting
- Purpose: Connect program administrators/coordinators/managers/service providers to discuss program operations, identify successes and challenges, share information and resources, and provide support.
- Current activities: Support for new program development, share resources.
- Membership: All program operations folks welcome. Email Rebecca for meeting link: rebecca@lihc.on.ca. No paid positions available.
- Next meeting date: Friday, September 16th at 2pm EDT.
Pharmacy Working Group
- Purpose: Connect pharmacy staff to share information about safer supply from a pharmacy perspective. Share experiences and resources, and identify gaps, needs, and areas for advocacy.
- Current activities: Identifying resources, gaps, needs, areas for advocacy; sharing resources and experiences.
- Membership: Open to all pharmacy team members. Email Rebecca for meeting link: rebecca@lihc.on.ca
- Next meeting date: TBD (October 2022).
Clinicians: Are you interested in having a monthly or bi-monthly meeting? Email Rebecca to let us know! rebecca@lihc.on.ca.
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NSS-CoP Resource Library: Did you know we have a resource library with OVER 700 resources on safer supply? You can access it for FREE anytime. It features academic journal articles, grey literature, knowledge translation materials, clinical practice guidelines, and more!
Toolkit: Knowing How to Recognize and Respond to a Severe Intoxication or Overdose Related to Psychoactive Substance Use or Alcohol Withdrawal: The Équipe de soutien clinique et organisationnel en dépendance et itinérance has published a new toolkit! This toolkit is intended for frontline service providers who work with people who use psychoactive substances, who may or may not be specialized in the field of substance use, and who work in isolation wards, housing services for those who are homeless or street-involved, managed alcohol programs (wet services), drop-in services, emergency shelters and all other services that are frequented by people who use psychoactive substances. The toolkit includes infosheets that provide information on severe intoxications, overdoses and severe withdrawal (of alcohol only), the main signs and symptoms that can help us to recognize these states, and the actions to implement in order to prevent or to respond to them when they occur.
Community Urinalysis and Self-Report Project: Cross-Canada Report on the Use of Drugs from the Unregulated Supply, 2019-2021 Data - Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction: Presents substance use trends and describes whether expected substance use matched actual substance contents. Data were collected from harm reduction sites in seven regions across Canada that participated in the Community Urinalysis and Self-Report Project between 2019 and 2021.
A Guideline and Policy Recommendations for STBBI Testing and Linkage to Care in British Columbia Provincial Correctional Settings: This is a new publication by the "You Matter Project: Pathways to Care for STBBIs". This document contains policy recommendations and guidelines for the testing and linkage to care for STBBIs in provincial correctional centres in British Columbia in order to improve equitable access and uptake of non-stigmatizing STBBI testing and care.
Questions and Answers for Pharmacies - Policy for Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) Reimbursement under the Ontario Drug Benefit Program: Changes to Methadose formulations funded in Ontario came into effect on August 31st. Review the Methadone Maintenance Treatment Reimbursement 2022 Policy updates here and find more information.
Ontario Opioid Indicator Tool - Ontario Drug Policy Research Network: The Ontario Opioid Indicator Tool provides public access to indicators of opioid use, opioid-related harms, and access to treatment and harm reduction in the province from 2012 onwards using data housed at ICES. Since the ODPRN’s initial launch of this tool in 2018, the landscape of the overdose crisis in Ontario has shifted, with an increasing recognition that the majority of opioid-related harms have been associated with the unregulated opioid supply, which is predominantly made up of fentanyl. To better meet the needs of the current crisis, the tool has been updated with new indicators which have an increased focus on opioids used for the treatment of opioid use disorder, as well as complications arising from opioid-related harms not reported elsewhere. This tool is designed to complement Public Health Ontario’s interactive tool on opioid-related morbidity and mortality in Ontario which includes similarly presented indicators of opioid-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths.
Illicit Drug Toxicity Deaths in BC January 1, 2012 – June 30, 2022 - BC Coroners Service: This report summarizes all unintentional illicit drug toxicity deaths in British Columbia (accidental and undetermined) that occurred between January 1, 2012, and June 30, 2022, inclusive. It includes confirmed and suspected illicit toxicity deaths.
Illicit Drug Toxicity Type of Drug Data - Data to June 30, 2022 - BC Coroners Service: This report is a companion report to the Illicit Drug Toxicity report to summarize the drugs detected among suspected illicit drug toxicity deaths. In the majority of deaths, fentanyl or its analogues, whether alone or in combination with other drugs, was detected.
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy: A portrait of a community facing radical change, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy brings humanity and compassion to the substance-use crisis and drug-poisoning epidemic on the Kainai First Nation in southern Alberta. Blackfoot and Sámi filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers welcomes viewers to witness the collective work of her community, holding these stories in love and hope for the future.
Where To?: This new online directory is for people looking for HIV, hepatitis C, sexual health or harm reduction services in Canada, with additional resources to support their journey to health and wellness. The website allows you to search for services by location or by type of service. CATIE operates and maintains this website. Service providers can also register their own organization. An administrator will review your listing before it gets published.
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RESEARCH PAPER OF THE MONTH
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Gehring, N. D., et al. (2022). Policy actor views on structural vulnerability in harm reduction and policymaking for illegal drugs: A qualitative study | International Journal of Drug Policy
Highlights:
- The central role of structural vulnerability (including poverty, unstable/lack of housing, racialization) in driving harm for people who use drugs (PWUD) was acknowledged by participants in all provinces and territories.
- Criminalization, in particular, was seen as a major contributor to structural vulnerability by justifying formal and informal sanctions against drug use and, by extension, PWUD.
- Structural vulnerability is salient within Canadian policy actors’ discourses; however, formal government policies are seen as falling short of addressing the structural conditions of PWUD.
- Decriminalization and safer supply have the potential to mitigate immediate structural vulnerability of PWUD while policies evolve to advance social, economic, and cultural equity.
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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.
- Perri, M., et al. (2022). COVID-19 and the opportunity for gender-responsive virtual and remote substance use treatment and harm reduction services | International Journal of Drug Policy
- Zheng, A., et al. (2022). Risk of non-medical drug overdose following prescription of opioids post-injury: A retrospective cohort study | Statistics Canada
- Sachidanandan, G., et al. (2022). Education as drug policy: A realist synthesis of continuing professional development for opioid agonist therapy | International Journal of Drug Policy
- Nolan, S., et al. (2022). Harm reduction in the hospital: An overdose prevention site (OPS) at a Canadian hospital | Drug and Alcohol Dependence
- Godkhindi, P., et al. (2022). “They're causing more harm than good”: a qualitative study exploring racism in harm reduction through the experiences of racialized people who use drugs | Harm Reduction Journal
- Jackson, L. A., et al. (2022). Accessing drug treatment programs in Atlantic Canada: the experiences of people who use substances | Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
- Pijl, E. M., et al. (2022). Barriers and facilitators to opioid agonist therapy in rural and remote communities in Canada: an integrative review | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
- Hartung, D. M., et al. (2022). Association between treatment setting and outcomes among Oregon medicaid patients with opioid use disorder: a retrospective cohort study | Addiction Science & Clinical Practice
- Gottlieb, D. J., et al. (2022). A comparison of mortality rates for buprenorphine versus methadone treatments for opioid use disorder | Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
- Wakefield, S. E., et al. (2022). Predictors of engagement and retention in care at a low-threshold substance use disorder bridge clinic | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
- Calvert, S., et al. (2022). Exploring the process of care for people who inject drugs in hospital settings | Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
- Parkes, T., et al. (2022). ‘Why would we not want to keep everybody safe?’ The views of family members of people who use drugs on the implementation of drug consumption rooms in Scotland | Harm Reduction Journal
- LaForge, K., et al. (2022). Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to the fentanyl-adulterated drug supply among people who use drugs in Oregon | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
- McAnulty, C., et al. (2022). Buprenorphine/naloxone and methadone effectiveness for reducing craving in individuals with prescription opioid use disorder: exploratory results from an open-label, pragmatic randomized controlled trial | Drug and Alcohol Dependence
- Duncan, E., et al. (2022). Acceptability of supervised injection facilities among persons who inject drugs in upstate New York | Harm Reduction Journal
- Madden, A., et al. (2022). Making legitimacy: Drug user representation in United Nations drug policy settings | International Journal of Drug Policy
- Torres-Lockhart, K. E., et al. (2022). Clinical Management of Opioid Withdrawal | Addiction
- Dow-Fleisner, S. J., et al. (2022). Impact of Safe Consumption Facilities on Individual and Community Outcomes: A Scoping Review of the Past Decade of Research | Emerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions, and Health
- Grebely, J., et al. (2022). Recommandations pour la prise en charge de l’infection par le virus de l’hépatite C chez les usagers de drogues par injection | International Journal of Drug Policy
- Russell, C., et al. (2022). Opioid agonist treatment take-home doses (‘carries’): Are current guidelines resulting in low treatment coverage among high-risk populations in Canada and the USA? | Harm Reduction Journal
- Morgan, J. R., et al. (2022). The role of increasing pharmacy and community distributed naloxone in the opioid overdose epidemic in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York City | Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports
- Ritchie, K., & Ghosh, S. M. (2022). Determining the feasibility for an overdose prevention line to support substance users who use alone | Harm Reduction Journal
- Rudolph, K. E., et al. (2022). Buprenorphine & methadone dosing strategies to reduce risk of relapse in the treatment of opioid use disorder | Drug and Alcohol Dependence
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National and General News:
British Columbia:
- Michelle C. Danda and Corey Ranger: No forced treatment, David Eby, for people experiencing multiple overdoses
- name change, frame change
- The war on drugs in B.C. is a failed effort, says UBCO expert
- Drug-testing equipment comes to Courtenay, B.C., as overdose advisory issued
- B.C. excludes researchers living or working in province from drug decriminalization review
- On East Hastings, We’ve Been Abandoned
- Drug-checking machine now available in Prince George
- BC Drug Deaths Bring More Demands for Change
- Over 10,000 people in B.C. have died due to toxic drugs since health emergency was declared in 2016: coroner
- Advocates call for public health, human rights-focused approach to DTES decampment
- Dr. Paxton Bach: Our overburdened health-care system cannot meet the need for a safer drug supply
- Man dies of drug poisoning after substances laced with animal sedatives surface in Victoria
- B.C. NDP leadership race: Eby pitches involuntary care for severe overdose cases
- 'He had a future,' says mother of man who died of fatal overdose
- Remembering Peer Advocate Paige Phillips, Who Lost Her Life to Toxic Drugs
- 'These people were all worth saving': Photography project shines light on B.C.'s toxic drug deaths
- Breaking the law to provide safe drugs? Nelson advocate says it should be considered
- Want to end the drug poisoning crisis? Start by listening to people who use drugs
- Purple chairs line the parking lot of Maple Ridge Church for International Overdose Awareness Day
- Advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm continues calls for drug policy change at Vancouver vigil
- Safer supply is part of a continuum of care
- Police in the Downtown Eastside: A World of Contradictions
- 4 years after son's death, a Vancouver mother marks overdose awareness day
Alberta:
Saskatchewan:
Manitoba:
Ontario:
Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut:
Québec (et en français s'il vous plaît!):
Atlantic Region (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador):
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