#substance-use — Public Fediverse posts

Niagara braces for spike in overdoses that Hamilton saw after its supervised drug consumption site closed

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/safe-consumption-site-overdoses-hart-hubs-9.7184342

#Canada #Ontario #CdnPoli #OnPoli #Niagara #HamiltonON #Addiction #SubstanceUse #HealthCare

SAFETY SHED OPENS ON 100VIC

On Mar. 15, 2026, 100 Victoria St. (100Vic) encampment celebrated the launch of the Safety Shed. It was erected by the Concerned People on Drug Use, a coalition of community members, drug users, advocates and loved ones of drug users. The grand opening event featured continued building of the shed, pizza, music, passionate speakers and a community-led discussion.  

“The Safety Shed will provide people who use drugs with a focal point where they can access and create programming that deals with the issues they are facing, inducing state attacks on their rights to medical services. It will also provide a warmer, safer place where community members can discuss, explore and strategize about solutions without fear of being stigmatized or criminalized,” the Concerned People on Drug Use said in a joint press release.  

“In fall 2023 we started seeing large quantities of xylazine going into the fentanyl supply, and more encampment residents were having worse experiences using drugs that they thought were unpoisoned, so the need grew,” Julian Ichim, a safety shed activist, said.   

Versions of the Safety Shed in tent form were used on Roos Island and then at 100Vic since the summer of 2022. The Safety Shed is a space where encampment residents can access harm reduction supplies, education and peer support in the community. The labour of many organizers and volunteers went into the building of the safety shed.   

“We have to fight for people, who have basic rights simply because they’re human. Not because we like them, not because we agree with them. Simply because they’re human,” Ichim said.   

The Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) at 150 Duke St. W. was closed on Mar. 31, 2025, due to Bill 223. It banned CTS sites from operating within 200 metres of certain types of schools and childcare centres. The CTS was co-operated by Sanguen Health Centre and the Region of Waterloo Public Health and Paramedic Services.  

“[The Safety Shed was proposed by] several members of the Alan Ryan People’s Community Defence Brigade with lived and living experience using substances in organized safety tents through the years, and the Safety Shed is also being organized with the Concerned People on Drug Use, a group of drug users and advocates,” Ichim said.   

The shed is in a prominent and accessible space in the encampment, chosen by the residents who will be using it. It will contain various harm reduction supplies, workshops, food and opportunities to learn about their rights.   

“The number of drug poisoning deaths has increased since the CTS was closed and the supply is becoming more toxic with sedatives like medetomidine in the mix. Harm reduction is a serious issue,” Ichim said.   

On Feb. 27, 2026, a community drug alert  was issued in Waterloo Region after 35 suspected drug overdoses and one drug-related death. Fentanyl samples were tested through Sanguen’s drug checking program and found other drugs like sedatives, veterinary tranquilizers and depressants.   

If you follow harm reduction or want to know more about the topic, you might enjoy this Medium article I wrote about how moralized narratives hurt recovery.

#HarmReduction #DrugPolicy #SubstanceUse #Substances #Drugs #Health #Healthcare #Canada #Politics #CdnPoli

https://medium.com/@thomas.embree/mental-illness-personal-crises-substance-use-a76a49e79a71

Harm reduction saves lives by reducing overdoses, preventing disease, and connecting people to care. Abstinence-only fails substance users, with higher rates of illness, overdose, and relapse.

#HarmReduction #DrugPolicy #SubstanceUse #Substances #Drugs #Health #Healthcare #Canada #Politics #CdnPoli

Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis due to discrimination and culturally inappropriate treatment. Harm reduction saves lives and can help preserve cultural identity.

#HarmReduction #DrugPolicy #Health #Healthcare #SubstanceUse #Indigenous #FirstNations

You don’t have to approve of substance use to support harm reduction. You just have to care whether people live or die.

Harm reduction is risk management, not endorsement.

#HarmReduction #DrugPolicy #SafeConsumption #SubstanceUse #Drugs #Substances #Health #Healthcare

Poor mental health, harmful alcohol use persists post-pandemic: report

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://globalnews.ca/news/11609343/camh-post-pandemic-mental-health-substance-use-impacts/

"Maintaining a conceptual divide btw addictions and other psychiatric disorders reinforces diagnostic “tunnel vision,” constraining our understanding of neuropsychopathology and contributing to persistent gaps in care and treatment accessibility."
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/irish-journal-of-psychological-medicine/article/addiction-is-a-mental-disorder-within-the-mental-health-spectrum-and-it-matters/8EDA704DF6C14361147C87FB83EEABFD

#SubstanceUse

Researching #IntegratedCare, especially for people w #multimorbidity, shows that silos do not start at the psychological vs. physiological, but already within those categories.

#MentalIllness #HealthServices

This study explores student and newly qualified pharmacists' (Scotland, n=28) perceptions of professionalism in community pharmacy around substance dependency
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.70180

It finds evidence of stigmatisation, systematic bias in healthcare policies and procedures, but also exemplary practice.

#SubstanceUse #MentalHealth #Stigma

https://davidgratzer.com/reading-of-the-week/reading-of-the-week-bipolar-disorder-drug-prescribing-bad-news-the-new-cjp-paper-also-an-ai-warning-and-cannabis-psychosis/#more-5981

[2. The observation about potency is striking: cannabis potency has surged in recent years.]

- I'm curious about your observations on the potency of alcohol.

[3. Was it a mistake for Canada to legalize cannabis for medical reasons before recreational use, perhaps creating the impression that it is safe?]

- Let's revert back 1920's Prohibition era with alcohol as well and let alcohol and cannabis be run in the streets/underground instead of government regulated stores..
Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol. Alcohol is more harmful than cannabis. Your question should be -how can public health measures inform individuals and communities better on safer use guidelines? Psychiatric medications also create an impression of safety, they also can bring about side effects and harm to the individual.

-Those led astray
#MentalHealth
#SubstanceUse
#Cannabis
#Alcohol
#Drugs
#HealthCare
#Ontario
#Canada

Very nice morning and big thanks to the organisers Andy Mohan (and many others not being here as well)!

If interested in the Scottish Alcohol Research Network #SARN, you find them here:
https://www.sarnalcohol.org/

Have a look at the #DundeeUni #SubstanceUse Research Group here
https://www.dundee.ac.uk/substance-use-research-group

#AlcoholRelatedHarm #Scotland
Edit: Name and information on SURG added.

And Gabriel Caluzzi (La Trobe) discusses #HarmReduction as an addition to structural reforms (pricing, marketing...) and the Q&A highlights the community aspect they may bring into #PublicMentalHealth strategies.

One example
https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/four-pillars-drug-strategy.aspx

#SARN #SubstanceUse #Scotland #Vancouver

Edit: Name corrected from tag

John Dillon focuses on how to identify alcohol-related liver disease earlier (at the moment: 25% mortality at 60 days). He presents work on the #iLFT and asks what to do now
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31226388/

Research summary
https://www.dundee.ac.uk/stories/intelligent-liver-function-testing-ilft

#SARN #SubstanceUse #Scotland #Diagnosis

Amy Malaguti presents on developing a screening pathway for early diagnosis of chronic liver disease.

The ongoing project explores implementing Fibrosis-4 index & Fibroscan in a community detox setting and whether it is worth it.

#SARN #SubstanceUse #Scotland #Dundee #DDARS #ImplementationScience

Next, Briege Nugent and Ryan Anderson present on #CoProduction with people who identify as having alcohol-related issues, aiming to understand trajectories and what works (e.g., #PeerSupport #Rehabilitation).

Big problems: housing and access to services.

#SARN #SubstanceUse #Scotland #Edinburgh

First up, @ptoner.bsky.social presents on developing screening & assessment instruments for young people.

Currently available from this work #SysReview -s on
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376871619300626?via%3Dihub
and work on #HRQoL assessment
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dar.13717

#SARN #SubstanceUse #Scotland

Attending the meeting of the Scottish Alcohol Research Network* at #DundeeUni!

SARN is a collaborative research forum responding to alcohol-related harm in #Scotland

Great to meet internal and external colleagues w similar research interests.

🧵👇
#SubstanceUse #MentalHealth
* https://www.sarnalcohol.org/

How to #Help Someone, or Yourself, in a #MentalHealth Crisis

Whether it’s #suicidalthoughts or actions, an #anxiety attack, worsening #depression, risky #substanceuse, #rage, #hallucinations or dangerous #impulses, more help is available now

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/how-to-help-someone-or-yourself-in-a-mental-health-crisis/

#HarmReduction #Prohibition #SubstanceUse #PWUD #History #Herstory #Cocaine #Racism
This episode of the Bureau of Lost Culture - "Dope Girls" looks at the early 1900's #Soho #Flappers and the start of the moral war on drugs leading up to and following the first world war.

A great series with some tasty episodes (Nom Nom Nom) including episodes on #Psychadelics and #CounterCultrue #Sex #Gender #Disability and of course #Drugs

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7vx4xfNEmAZeKxy7Nlgnov?si=84PyqyM4QOqSyU88QYZIrw

Canadian principals are spending more time managing #SubstanceUse in schools: study | Globalnews.ca https://globalnews.ca/news/11050803/canadian-principals-time-managing-substance-use-schools-study/ “We’ve got decades now of research that shows that those types of approaches that are punitive in nature are not only ineffective, but can cause harms,” Jenkins said.

“They can cause disengagement from school. They’re associated with a greater likelihood of substance use, problematic substance use later in life.”

Relationship of Perceived Racial Discrimination and Age of Onset for Cigarette, Alcohol, and Marijuana Use among Adolescents

A new #OpenAccess article by the Health Behavior and Policy Review journal.

#SubstanceUse #discrimination #health #youth

https://parisscholarpublishing.org/relationship-of-perceived-racial-discrimination-and-age-of-onset-for-cigarette-alcohol-and-marijuana-use-among-adolescents/

Are policymakers more likely to reply to #email messages that narrate #livedExperience?

A high-powered series of rapid-cycle randomized control trials (Ns ≅ 6000-11000) found mixed results (positive, negative, and null).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dadr.2024.100299

#policy #advocacy #SciComm #health #substanceUse #drugPolicy