|
|
|
|
|
Key Messages on Safer Supply: The NSS-CoP has assembled key messages on safer supply as well as a series of infographics and social media campaign packages. Updates to these key messages will happen on an ongoing basis as more research, evidence, and information emerges. Check it out now!
|
|
Safer Supply Ottawa Evaluation: Fall 2023 Report: Safer Supply Ottawa seeks to directly address concerns surrounding the toxic unregulated drug supply through the prescription of pharmaceutical-grade opioids and stimulants. This report presents an overview of the Safer Supply Ottawa program, as well as the results of a program evaluation conducted in the summer of 2023. Read the full report here.
Bridging Communities, Saving Lives in Nelson - CDPC and R.E.D.U.N: Nelson, B.C.'s R.E.D.U.N. provides crucial support to current and former drug users, as well as their friends, family, and supporters. R.E.D.U.N. is a proactive response to a significant number of losses in the community. The program meets people where they are at, supporting individuals' safety and well-being if they use drugs, as well as distributing essential harm reduction supplies, safer sex materials, water, and snacks. Beyond their lifesaving harm reduction work, R.E.D.U.N. provides a meaningful platform for people who use/d drugs to contribute to their community. Learn more about community efforts to reduce harm from the unregulated drug overdose crisis in the Kootenays. Read the full community report here.
Urgent and Long Overdue: Legal Reform and Drug Decriminalization in Canada - Royal Society of Canada Task Force on COVID-19: The International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy recommend that States commit to adopting a balanced, integrated, and human rights-based approach to drug policy through a set of foundational human rights principles, obligations arising from human rights standards, and obligations arising from the human rights of particular groups. Following two years of consultation with stakeholders, including people who use drugs, NGOs, legal and human rights experts, UN technical agencies and Member States, the Guidelines “do not invent new rights. Rather, they apply existing human rights law to the legal and policy context of drug control to maximize human rights protections, including in the interpretation and implementation of the drug control conventions.” In respect of the Guidelines and its obligations under UN human rights treaties, Canada must adopt stronger and more specific commitments for a human rights-based, people-centered and public health approach. This approach must commit to the removal of criminal penalties for simple possession and a comprehensive health-based approach to drug regulation. Download the full report now.
|
|
|
NSS-CoP Resource Library: Did you know we have a resource library with OVER 1,500 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!
|
|
|
RESEARCH PAPER OF THE MONTH
|
|
|
Slaunwhite, A., et al. (2024). Effect of Risk Mitigation Guidance opioid and stimulant dispensations on mortality and acute care visits during dual public health emergencies: retrospective cohort study | BMJ
Objective: To determine the effect of opioid and stimulant Risk Mitigation Guidance (RMG) dispensations on mortality and acute care visits during the dual public health emergencies of overdose and covid-19.
Participants: 5882 people with opioid or stimulant use disorder who received RMG prescriptions for opioids (n=5356) and/or stimulants (n=1061) (535 received both) from 27 March 2020 to 31 August 2021.
Results: RMG opioid dispensations of one day or more were associated with reduced all cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 0.39, 95% confidence interval 0.25 to 0.60) and overdose related mortality (0.45, 0.27 to 0.75) in the subsequent week. Dispensations of RMG stimulants (≥1 days) were not significantly associated with reduced all cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 0.50, 0.20 to 1.23) or overdose related mortality (0.53, 0.18 to 1.56). The protective effect of RMG opioid dispensations increased with the number of days the medications were dispensed in a given week. People who received four or more days of RMG opioid dispensations had reduced all cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 0.09, 0.04 to 0.21) and overdose related mortality (0.11, 0.04 to 0.32) compared with the control group. Opioid RMG dispensations did not significantly modify the odds of all cause or overdose related acute care visits. Dispensations of RMG stimulants were associated with a significant decrease in the odds of acute care visits for any cause but did not affect the odds of overdose related acute care visits.
Conclusions: RMG opioid dispensations were associated with reduced overdose related and all cause mortality among a sample of people with opioid use disorder. Pharmaceutical alternatives to the illegal drug supply are promising interventions to reduce mortality in people with opioid use disorder.
|
|
Kolla, G., et al. (2024). Substance use care innovations during COVID-19: barriers and facilitators to the provision of safer supply at a Toronto COVID-19 isolation and recovery site | Harm Reduction Journal
Fleming, T., et al. (2024). Perceptions of prospective pharmaceutical stimulant substitution treatments among people who use illicit stimulants in Vancouver, Canada | International Journal of Drug Policy
Fleming, T., et al. (2024). Using alone at home: What’s missing in housing-based responses to the overdose crisis? | Harm Reduction Journal
Holland, A., et al. (2024). “Safer supply” alternatives to toxic unregulated drug markets | BMJ
Moon, K. J., et al. (2024). Enhancing drug checking services for supply monitoring: perspectives on implementation in syringe service programs in the USA | Harm Reduction Journal
German, D., et al. (2024). Reported xylazine exposure highly associated with overdose outcomes in a rapid community assessment among people who inject drugs in Baltimore | Harm Reduction Journal
Fixler, A. L., et al. (2024). There goes the neighborhood? The public safety enhancing effects of a mobile harm reduction intervention | International Journal of Drug Policy
|
|
|
National and General News:
British Columbia:
Alberta:
Saskatchewan:
Manitoba:
Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut:
Quebec (et en français s'il vous plaît!):
Atlantic Region (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
