Meeting Minutes:

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

• Harm Reduction Fundamentals: A toolkit for service providers: This toolkit from CATIE provides foundational information on harm reduction for service providers working with people who use drugs (including support workers, outreach workers, nurses, and workers with lived and living experience). The toolkit is free to access and is available to anyone to use or share for personal learning, organizational trainings and/or other capacity-building efforts. There is also a great Harm Reduction Fundamentals: Video Series that accompanies the toolkit. CATIE also has an excellent Safer Substance Use: Video Series for people who use drugs and for service providers, to walk through the basic steps for how to inject, smoke and snort drugs as safely as possible. The videos cover how to prepare and consume a variety of drugs that are commonly injected, smoked or snorted.
   
• Fair Price Pharma Inhalation Diacetylmorphine Operational Guide: The purpose of this document is to provide operational guidance to health authorities, medical practices, clinics, co-ops, OPS, NGO, SIS, etc. who wish to provide Fair Price Pharma (FPP) inhalable diacetylmorphine (DAM) to their clients. Note this is available in all five BC health regions and FNHA.
   
• Decision Support Tool for Granting Unsupervised Doses: The Équipe de soutien clinique et organisationnel en dépendance et itinérance in Montréal recently released a decision support tool for granting unsupervised doses. This tool is meant to help guide prescriber deliberations over the decision of whether to grant unsupervised doses. The questions included allow for an objective and person-centered view of the recovery process.
   
• EACH+EVERY Workplace Substance Use Policy: EACH+EVERY recently released their new model workplace policy: substance use-related code of conduct. The purpose of this document is to establish standards of conduct for our interactions and relationships at work, as they relate to substance use and its intersections. The document is compiled by leadership of the following organizations: EACH+EVERY, Portage Legal Services, and Workers for Ethical Substance Use Policy.
   
• Crackdown - Episode 31: Love, Death and Benzodope: There is a brand-new Crackdown Podcast episode available titled "Love, Death and Benzodope". Here is a brief description of the episode: "Can Martin and Laura's fairy tale love story survive benzodope – the next lethal era of the drug war? British Columbia has seen a surge of unusual overdoses - including Martin and Laura’s. People are passing out for hours, losing their memories, and getting robbed and assaulted. And deaths have spiked. Again. But our community is responding. Harm Reduction workers like Trey Helten at the Vancouver Overdose Prevention Society are coming up with ways to keep people OD-ing on benzodope safe and alive – all without adequate resources or space. You can donate to Vancouver OPS here. Benzo contamination of the drug supply continues to get worse. Almost half of the illicit opioids sampled in B.C. now have benzos in them. More than 100,000 of us depend on this street drug supply - including Martin Steward and Laura Shaver. After withstanding so many other crises, now Martin and Laura need to survive benzodope – a scary new challenge confronting their decade-strong relationship and their work as drug user activists. But what do we do now that so many of us are wired to benzos? How much longer can we wait for safe supply?"

Boyd, J., et al. (2022). Mothers Who Use Drugs: Closing the Gaps in Harm Reduction Response Amidst the Dual Epidemics of Overdose and Violence in a Canadian Urban Setting | American Journal of Public Health

Highlights:

• Participants' substance use and overdose risk (e.g., injecting alone) was shaped by fear of institutional and partner scrutiny and loss (or feared loss) of child custody or reunification.
• Findings indicate that punitive policies and institutional practices that frame women who use drugs as unfit parents continue to negatively shape the lives of women, most significantly among Indigenous participants.
• Non-punitive policies, including access to safe, nontoxic drug supplies, are critical first steps to decreasing women's overdose risk alongside gender-specific and culturally informed harm-reduction responses, including community-based, peer-led initiatives to maintain parent-child relationships.

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.

• Lei, V., et al. (2022). Factors associated with take-home naloxone kit usage in British Columbia: an analysis of administrative data | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
• Bardwell, G. (2022). More than a pipe dream? The need to adapt safer opioid supply programs for people who smoke drugs | Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
• Lim, J., et al. (2022). Relative effectiveness of medications for opioid-related disorders: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials | PLOS One 
• Kolla, G., Touesnard, N., & Gomes, T. (2022). Addressing the overdose crisis in North America with bold action | Addiction 
• Moallef, S., et al. (2022). Suboptimal nonmedical qualities of primary care linked with care avoidance among people who use drugs in a Canadian setting amid an integrated health care reform | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
• Beaulac, M., et al. (2022). Changes in the unregulated opioid drug supply during income assistance payment weeks in Vancouver, Canada: An exploratory analysis | International Journal of Drug Policy
• Brothers, T., et al. (2022). Evaluation of an emergency safe supply drugs and managed alcohol program in COVID-19 isolation hotel shelters for people experiencing homelessness | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Bouck, Z., et al. (2022). Evaluating interventions to facilitate opioid agonist treatment access among people who inject drugs in Toronto, Ontario during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• Kurz, M., et al. (2022). Opioid agonist treatment uptake within provincial correctional facilities in British Columbia, Canada | Addiction 
• Kolla, G., et al. (2022). Experiences of overdose among people who inject drugs and have experienced homelessness in the city of Toronto. | Map Centre for Urban Health Solutions 
• Azar, P., et al. (2022). Case report: acute care management of severe opioid withdrawal with IV fentanyl | Addiction Science & Clinical Practice 
• Bettinger, J. J., et al. (2022). Misinterpretation of the “Overdose Crisis” Continues to Fuel Misunderstanding of the Role of Prescription Opioids | Dove Press
• Lardner, A., et al. (2022). Variability in the unregulated opioid market in the context of extreme rates of overdose | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Rubin, R., & Suran, M. (2022). Supervised Consumption Sites—A Tool for Reducing Risk of Overdose Deaths and Infectious Diseases in People Who Use Illicit Drugs | Journal of the American Medical Association 
• Antoniou, T., et al. 2022. Impact of a Publicly Funded Pharmacy-dispensed Naloxone Program on Fatal Opioid Overdose Rates: A Population-based Study | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Urbanik, M-M., et al. (2022). A qualitative comparison of how people who use drugs’ perceptions and experiences of policing affect supervised consumption services access in two cities | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• McAdam, E., et al. (2022). Factors Associated with Perceived Decline in the Quality of Drugs During the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Community-Recruited Cohorts of People Who Use Drugs in Vancouver, Canada | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Matheson, C., et al. (2022). Long-acting depot buprenorphine in people who are homeless: Views and experiences | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 
• Kayes, K., & Cerdá, M. (2022). Dynamics of drug overdose in the 20th and 21st centuries: The exponential curve was not inevitable, and continued increases are preventable | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• Slocum, S., et al. (2022). If we build it, will they come? Perspectives on pharmacy-based naloxone among family and friends of people who use opioids: a mixed methods study | BMC Public Health 
• Werb, D., et al. (2022). Health harms of non-medical prescription opioid use: A systematic review | Drug and Alcohol Review 
• Marchand, K., et al. (2022). “We need to build a better bridge”: findings from a multi-site qualitative analysis of opportunities for improving opioid treatment services for youth | Harm Reduction Journal
• Garg, R., et al. (2022). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence of opioid agonist therapy discontinuation in Ontario, Canada: a population-based time series analysis | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Minoyan, N., et al. (2022). Self-reported impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic among people who use drugs: a rapid assessment study in Montreal, Canada | Harm Reduction Journal 
• Tsui, J. I., et al. (2022). Methamphetamine/amphetamine use over time among persons with opioid use disorders treated with buprenorphine/naloxone versus extended-release naltrexone
• Drug and Alcohol Dependence
• Walters, S. M., et al. (2022). Structural and community changes during COVID-19 and their effects on overdose precursors among rural people who use drugs: a mixed-methods analysis | Addiction Science and Clinical Practice

• Ottawa knows there’s an overdose crisis. It knows the answers. So why won’t it act? 
• 1.2 Million Opioid Overdose Deaths Expected In U.S. And Canada By 2029, Experts Warn 
• Health Canada announces review of all MDMA trials, as complaint alleges major flaws and safety issues 
• Further loosen restrictions around the splitting and sharing of drugs 
• Exclusive Data Shows Canadian Cops Target More Black and Indigenous Folks for Drug Arrests 
• Some parents are losing not one, but two children to drug overdoses, as Canada’s opioid crisis worsens 
• The Way We Depict Drugs, and People Who Use Them, Must Change 
• Is Ottawa finally ready to decriminalize drug use — or ‘more worried about losing votes than saving lives?’
• Borders and barriers in harm reduction
• Why Forced Addiction Treatment Fails

• First ever paid prescription fentanyl program launches in Vancouver 
• Meet Disco Distro, the Mobile Store Distributing Life-Saving Essentials in the DTES 
• Unsafe supply and combating stigma: Penticton groups prepare to mark sixth year of overdose crisis 
• The Stigma Trap: Mothers and Toxic Drugs 
• Opinion: Drug users need a safe supply that won't send them to a morgue 
• Closure of Vancouver youth detox program 'devastating,' advocates say 
• Drug users group fights City of Surrey’s ‘discriminatory’ cancellation of business licence 
• Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council demands action on overdose crisis 
• Health Canada mulling B.C.’s drug decriminalization request but with lower threshold: minister 
• Ian Mulgrew: Mandatory minimum sentence for B.C.'s fentanyl dealers simply isn't working 
• Advocates 'horrified' as Health Canada mulls lower threshold for drug decriminalization in B.C. 
• Opinion: Two-tiered health system is here – and it’s making the overdose crisis worse 
• B.C. illicit drug deaths reach an 'unprecedented and terrifying rate': chief coroner 
• B.C. declared overdose deaths a public emergency 6 years ago. Advocates say the only change is the body count 
• Black balloons, rallies, calls for safer supply in B.C. on sombre OD anniversary 
• BC’s Toxic Drug Crisis Failure
• 4/20: Cannabis could be safe alternative to toxic drug supply, so why is access being cut off? 
• ‘We’re Saving Lives, and Being Punished for Doing It’ 
• Group pushes for ‘compassion club model’ to address surge of deaths from toxic drug supply

• Alberta’s drug crisis continues with 160 deaths in January 2022: government data 
• Edmonton explores drug-checking programs, funds Bissell Centre day service 
• Supreme Court dismisses bid for injunction on Alberta supervised consumption site policy 
• Harm-reduction group applauds Edmonton's push to explore drug-checking programs 
• Prime minister visits Edmonton, criticizes Alberta's response to opioid crisis 
• Alberta harm reduction advocate, drug user challenges government focus on abstinence 
• Edmonton to ask Ottawa for drug decriminalization, despite objections of 2 councillors 
• ‘Our position hasn’t changed’: Police chief remains opposed to Edmonton decriminalizing drug possession 
• Falling through gaps: Albertans with addictions can't always secure 'life-saving' medication
• New study suggests Calgary's supervised consumption site saves taxpayers millions
• Deadline for Alberta safe supply committee report extended to June
• A new drug-checking pilot in Calgary could help prevent deaths as overdoses hit record highs

• Advocates asking Saskatoon police board to decriminalize some drug possession 
• Saskatoon students advocate for safe consumption site funding 
• Med students push Sask. gov't to fund supervised drug consumption site
• Saskatoon safe consumption site to seek federal money after province said no
• Sask. safe consumption sites appeal for provincial funding
• 'It's chaos': Overdose prevention organizations highlight continued need for government funding

• More Manitobans died of overdose deaths in 2021 than ever before: chief medical examiner's data 
• ‘Everybody’s responsibility’: Surging number of deadly overdoses in Manitoba
• Manitoba may soon have a bereavement day for drug-related deaths
• Winnipeg sees 23 drug overdoses across three days, advocates urge caution

• Hamilton board of health considers decriminalizing drug possession 
• 'We can reduce the deaths': The Gilbert Centre's harm reduction program in Barrie aims to help
• Toronto hospital becomes first in Ontario to provide supervised consumption services
• Renfrew OPP commander cites doctors as source of opioid crisis 
• People are dying from poisoned drugs. Politicians must act to ensure safe supply 
• Safer consumption must include a safer supply, say harm reduction advocates 
• Peterborough has had unusually high drug-related deaths in April 
• Petition to House of Commons calls for drug decriminalization 
• New study sheds light on how toxic and unsafe the drug supply has become in Thunder Bay

• Street drug crisis, policing debated in house
• Yukon government strikes up advisory group on substance use

• Health agency warns crack laced with fentanyl may be circulating in Montreal 
• Record de surdoses mortelles : est-il temps de fournir des drogues moins toxiques? 
• Les drogues sécuritaires, le nouveau front d’une guerre idéologique 
• Décriminalisation de drogues : Ottawa envisage de réduire la limite demandée par la C.-B. 
• Crise des opioïdes : le budget Freeland deçoit en C.-B. 
• 27 millions de semences pour contrer les surdoses mortelles
• Surdoses : le bilan s’alourdit sans répit, malgré six ans d’état d’urgence en C.-B. 
• Justin Trudeau critique l’Alberta pour sa gestion de la crise des opioïdes 
• Un dangereux mélange de drogues est en circulation dans les rues de Montréal 
• Un puissant opioïde responsable de nombreuses surdoses au centre-ville de Moncton 
• Des champignons magiques pour les patients en fin de vie 

• Suspected overdose death prompts renewed calls for harm reduction, safe supply 
• Study highlights Halifax safe supply program success
• Preventing overdose deaths 'not rocket science,' activist says
• Addictions doctor to purchase Clinic 554 for use as apartments for those in recovery