The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
2,500 days. 11,098 deaths. Welcome to the forever emergency.
February 14, 2023 | Georgia Straight
Karen Ward is exhausted. “The fact is, after 2,500 days of this, the people who are actually trying to work on the so-called front lines here are falling apart,” she says. The long-time drug policy advisor and anti-poverty advocate speaks so fast that it feels like the words tumble out of her. �...
Xylazine increasingly appearing in Canada’s street drug supply
February 14, 2023 | DATAC
In recent months, xylazine, a potent sedative circulating in the illicit drug supply in the United States, has been increasingly detected in Canada’s street drugs, as health experts have raised concerns due to its risk of contributing to overdose-related deaths. Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer ...
Analysis: Canada’s decriminalization experiment no match for toxic drug supply
February 07, 2023 | Reuters
TORONTO, Feb 7 (Reuters) – A Canadian experiment to decriminalize small amounts of hard drugs could reduce stigma and police run-ins for addicts but does little to tackle a bigger problem of overdose deaths from drugs adulterated with lethal ingredients. The province of British Columbia, at th...
B.C.’s harm-reduction and addiction treatment systems plagued by gaps
February 02, 2023 | Vancouver Sun
In the same week that the province’s decriminalization rollout marked a shift in drug policy, grim figures from the B.C. Coroners Service — which show people continue to die in near record numbers due to the toxic drug supply — laid bare the gaps in the province’s harm reduction and addictio...
As B.C. marks another 2,272 toxic drug deaths, addictions doctor tells families: ‘I am so sorry’
January 31, 2023 | CBC News
More than 2,200 people died in British Columbia from toxic drugs over the course of 2022, making it the second deadliest year on record. The province’s coroner on Tuesday said there were 2,272 suspected drug toxicity deaths last year, just shy of the record 2,306 people who died in 2021. Mos...
