Meeting Minutes:

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

• 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!
   
• 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.
   
• Parlons-en! In 2021, the Ontario Harm Reduction Network released Connecting: A Guide to Using Harm Reduction Supplies as Engagement Tools. A French-language translation, Le guide Parlons-en! Le matériel de réduction des méfaits comme outil d’interaction has now been released. This guide provides clear and stigma-free information that can help frontline harm reduction workers connect meaningfully with people who use drugs. The Public Health Agency of Canada funded the production of Connecting, and Health Canada funded the translation to Parlons-en!
   
• What's in My Drugs?: Filmed at the Molson Overdose Prevention Site (MOPS) in Vancouver, What’s in My Drugs? explains what happens when a person goes to a drug checking service. In the short documentary style video, different workers on-site, such as a drug checking technician and expert, are interviewed and provide insight on why drug checking is an important harm reduction strategy for people who use drugs. These services are accessible in several communities in BC and continue to expand throughout Canada.
   
• 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.
   
• The Backbench: #36 Is Canada Ready to Decriminalize Drugs?: Parliament is heading towards a vote on an NDP Private Member’s Bill that would decriminalize drug possession for personal use, among other changes to address Canada’s overdose crisis. The Liberals have also proposed a bill that would amend the Controlled Drug and Substances Act. Garth Mullins of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users has been fighting for decriminalization for a long time as he’s watched friends die and get incarcerated. He talks about these two bills and his vision for healthy drug policy in Canada.
   
• Crackdown - Episode 32: Goodbye Greg: There is a brand-new Crackdown Podcast episode available titled "Goodbye Greg". Here is a brief description of the episode: "Last month, Crackdown Editorial Board member Greg Fresz passed away. As usual, we held a memorial for our comrade at VANDU. Sadly, we do this a lot. There’s nothing really that makes this constant death feel better, but at least we can feel “not better” together. That camaraderie? It's the only thing that helps. When we come together to mourn our dead, there’s grief, but also anger. And resolve. Our memorials are political actions. For the revolutionary, death is not the end."
   
• Benzo Dope and Tranq - The Next Wave of the Overdose Crisis: More than 100,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2021, the worst year on record. The newest wave of the overdose crisis involves man-made chemicals, including animal tranquilizers, that are being combined with fentanyl to make street drugs that are deadlier and more addictive. With access to an undisguised fentanyl dealer, VICE News looks at how drugs like “benzo dope” and “tranq” are ravaging North American communities and how U.S. policy affected the latest flood of synthetic street drugs. This documentary contains graphic and potentially triggering images and scenes.

Selfridge, M., et al. (2022). Factors associated with 60-day adherence to “safer supply” opioids prescribed under British Columbia's interim clinical guidance for health care providers to support people who use drugs during COVID-19 and the ongoing overdose emergency | International Journal of Drug Policy

Highlights:

• This study evaluated factors associated with 60-day adherence to novel opioid alternatives prescribed at an inner-city health centre in Victoria, Canada.
• A chart review was conducted to collect data on sociodemographic information, medical histories, and follow-up services among all clients prescribed novel opioid alternatives from March 2020-August 2020.
• Overall, 77% of 286 clients were still receiving opioids after 60 days of follow-up. Medications included hydromorphone (n = 274), sustained-release oral morphine (n = 2), and oxycodone (n = 9).
• Higher dosages and co-prescription of mental health medications and OAT may help support better adherence to this form of prescriber-based “safer supply”. Further work is needed to identify optimal prescribing practices and the longer term impacts of differing implementation scenarios.

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.

• Sukhpreet, K., et al. (2022). A low-barrier, flexible safe supply program to prevent deaths from overdose | Canadian Medical Association Journal
• Laupacis, A. (2022). How a powdered fentanyl program has improved a client’s quality of life | Canadian Medical Association Journal  
• Mitra, S., et al. (2022). Requiring help injecting among people who inject drugs in Toronto, Canada: Characterising the need to address sociodemographic disparities and substance-use specific patterns | Drug and Alcohol Review 
• 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 
• Pauly, B., et al. (2022). Applicability of a national strategy for patient‑oriented research to people who use(d) substances: a Canadian experience | Research Involvement and Engagement
• Sud, A., et al. (2022). Permissive regulation: A critical review of the regulatory history of buprenorphine formulations in Canada | International Journal of Drug Policy
• Brooks, H. L., et al. (2022). “I have such a hard time hitting myself, I thought it’d be easier”: perspectives of hospitalized patients on injecting drugs into vascular access devices | Harm Reduction Journal
• Touesnard, N. et al. (2022). Overdose deaths and HIV infections among people who use drugs: shared determinants and integrated responses | Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy
• Xavier, J., et al. (2022). “There are solutions and I think we're still working in the problem”: The limitations of decriminalization under the good Samaritan drug overdose act and lessons from an evaluation in British Columbia, Canada | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• Turuba, R., et al. (2022). A qualitative study exploring how young people perceive and experience substance use services in British Columbia, Canada | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
• Wenger, L. D., et al. (2022). Best practices for community-based overdose education and naloxone distribution programs: results from using the Delphi approach | Harm Reduction Journal
• Xavier, J., et al. (2022). Police officers’ perceptions of their role at overdose events: a qualitative study | Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy 
• Paumier, R., et al. (2022). Between zero risk and harm reduction: An ethnography of Montreal supervised injection services as a public policy instrument | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• Canêdo, J., et al. (2022). Harm reduction calls to action from young people who use drugs on the streets of Vancouver and Lisbon | Harm Reduction Journal 
• Kosteniuk, B., et al. (2022). Perceived unmet substance use and mental health care needs of acute care patients who use drugs: A cross-sectional analysis using the Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations | Drug and Alcohol Review
• Gertner, A., et al. (2022). A mixed methods study of provider factors in buprenorphine treatment retention | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• Hoffman, K., et al. (2022). Treatment retention, return to use, and recovery support following COVID-19 relaxation of methadone take-home dosing in two rural opioid treatment programs: A mixed methods analysis | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 
• Hopkins, R. E., et al. (2022). Self-reported challenges obtaining ongoing prescription opioids among Australians with chronic non-cancer pain | International Journal of Drug Policy
• Wachholtz, A., et al. (2022). Developing a novel treatment for patients with chronic pain and Opioid User Disorder | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 
• Marchand, K., et al. (2022). Becoming our young people’s case managers: caregivers’ experiences, needs, and ideas for improving opioid use treatments for young people using opioids | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 
• Reed, M. K., et al. (2022). “If I had them, I would use them every time”: Perspectives on fentanyl test strip use from people who use drugs | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 
• Liu, M., et al. (2022). Drug Overdoses During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Recently Homeless Individuals | Addiction 
• Skulberg, A. K., et al. (2022). Comparison of intranasal and intramuscular naloxone in opioid overdoses managed by ambulance staff: a double-dummy, randomised, controlled trial | Addiction 
• Nairn, S. A., et al. (2022). Interventions to Reduce Opioid Use in Youth At-Risk and in Treatment for Substance Use Disorders: A Scoping Review | Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 
• Tabatabaeepour, N., et al. (2022). Impact of prenatal substance use policies on commercially insured pregnant females with opioid use disorder | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 
• Textor, L., et al. (2022). ‘Red Flags’ and ‘Red Tape’: Telehealth and pharmacy-level barriers to buprenorphine in the United States | International Journal of Drug Policy 
• Krakouer, J., et al. (2022). Community-based models of alcohol and other drug support for First Nations peoples in Australia: A systematic review | Drug and Alcohol Review 
• Heikkinen, M., et al. (2022). Real-world effectiveness of pharmacological treatments of opioid use disorder in a national cohort | Addiction 
• Colledge-Frisby, S., et al. (2022). The impact of opioid agonist treatment on hospitalisations for injecting-related diseases among an opioid dependent population: A retrospective data linkage study | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Brothers, T. D., et al. (2022). Social and structural determinants of injecting-related bacterial and fungal infections among people who inject drugs: protocol for a mixed studies systematic review | BMJ Open 
• Askew, R., et al. (2022). The importance of PEOPLE who use drugs within drug policy reform debates: Findings from the UK Drug Policy Voices online survey | International Journal of Drug Policy
• Taylor, J. L., et al. (2022). Bridge clinic implementation of “72-hour rule” methadone for opioid withdrawal management: impact on opioid treatment program linkage and retention in care | Drug and Alcohol Dependence  
• Meyers-Pantele, S. A., et al. (2022). The influence of poly-drug use patterns on the association between opioid agonist treatment engagement and injecting initiation assistance | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 
• MacDonald, T., et al. (2022). A double-blind randomised crossover trial of low-dose flumazenil for benzodiazepine withdrawal: A proof of concept | Drug and Alcohol Dependence 
• Hooker, S. A., et al. (2022). What is success in treatment for opioid use disorder? Perspectives of physicians and patients in primary care settings | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
• Butler, A., et al. (2022). Total systems failure: police officers’ perspectives on the impacts of the justice, health, and social service systems on people who use drugs | Harm Reduction Journal 

• 'Mass poisoning crisis': Canadians need to change how we talk about drug deaths, advocates say 
• We can’t reach racial equality without drug law reform 
• “Safe supply is the future” 
• Health Canada to Fund Research on Psilocybin for Substance Use Disorder 
• Where the parties stand: On the opioid crisis 
• No, My Prescribed Opioid Use Was Not a “Relapse” 
• ‘Completely devastating’: US passes 1m overdose deaths since records began 
• We Must Divest From the Failed Drug War Locally, Nationally and Globally
• To Save Lives From Opioid Overdose Deaths, Bring Methadone Into Mainstream Medicine
• Cleaner illicit drug supply would cut overdose rates, study says
• Pressure mounts for Liberals to back bill decriminalizing drug use

• B.C. coroner says overdose deaths decrease in March, but drug users face risks 
• Another 165 British Columbians Killed by Toxic Drugs 
• DULF Keeps Distributing Checked Drugs as Health Canada Flags Denial 
• Mission’s drug-toxicity deaths surge to unprecedented levels in 1st quarter of 2022 
• DOXA Fest: Love in the Time of Fentanyl documents impressive heroism of Overdose Prevention Society 
• Overdose crisis leads Nanaimo drug users to open supervised site 
• ‘We don’t understand it’: Advocates slam Vancouver police raid of low-barrier cannabis program 
• Opinion: The kids are alright… but only when we empower them 
• R v Ellis: A New Frontier for Sentencing Drug Trafficking Offences 

• Alberta safe supply committee report not up to standards, experts say 
• Anti-Safe Supply Report Panned by Critics 
• Open Letter from 58 doctors assails Alberta safe drug supply study 
• The Man Behind Alberta’s Pull Away from Harm Reduction 
• Mom warns about stigma over opioid deaths 
• Drug Use on Edmonton Public Transit “Reflects Policy Failures” 
• At least two additional prisons marked for overdose prevention sites after success at Alberta’s Drumheller Institution

• Evening harm reduction program for street drug users ends in Prince Albert 
• Harm Reduction Grant Program Now Accepting Applications 
• City of Regina brings back harm reduction funding as annual program 
• Demand doubles for autopsies as Saskatchewan overdose crisis worsens
• Trudeau says supervised injection site funding up to Saskatchewan

• Federal NDP cry foul over government inaction on overdose deaths

• ‘Tragically inadequate’: How Ottawa’s decision on decriminalizing drug use in Toronto and other cities may only make things worse 
• Peterborough Public Health sounds alarm again on drug poisonings 
• Educating students on harm reduction can save lives, says SOPEN Hamilton 
• Sudbury, Ont., advocate says some street drugs she sent to Vancouver lab aren't what's advertised 
• Niagara overdoses increase, despite drug busts last year 
• Cambridge is close to naming an operator for drug consumption and treatment services site in downtown Galt 
• Peterborough pilot project provides safer opioid supply 
• Choosing a new direction could help end drug poisonings in Ontario 
• Ontario political parties promise help on opioid crisis leading up to election 
• Thunder Bay leads Ontario in opioid deaths per capita. Here's how 2 organizations handle the crisis 
• Sudburian looks back on 33-year career in harm reduction 
• Particularly in the north, the opioid crisis is top of mind this Ontario election 
• Increase in opioid overdoses bolsters case for safe drug supply: Doctor 
• Overdose crisis still 'urgent' in Toronto, city's top doctor says as emergency calls rise 
• Opioid overdoses claimed lives of more than 500 Torontonians last year 
• Waterloo Region's council endorses decriminalizing simple possession of drugs

• 'Here to model the way': Little Salmon Carmacks FN seeks Indigenous-led solutions to substance use 

• First patient in Quebec gets approval from Health Canada to treat mental health condition with psilocybin 
• Group's struggle to replace bus is symptom of Quebec's public funding shortfall, advocate says 
• L'avis du public sur le site d’injections supervisées à Timmins 
• Opioïdes : hausse du nombre de décès et de visites aux urgences pendant la pandémie 
• L’accès aux drogues sécuritaires serait crucial pour réduire la vulnérabilité aux surdoses 
• Du fentanyl pour traiter les “fentanylomanes”
• Un nouvel opioïde met en lumière les risques de l’approvisionnement en drogues
• Plus de 100 000 décès par surdose aux États-Unis en 2021​

• 'Noticeable increase' in overdoses in Saint John prompts police warning 
• Saint John police chief says solution to opioid deaths isn't arresting the dying