Latest News
On this page you will find the latest relevant updates on a broad range of health and policy related topics, including HIV, hepatitis C, drug use, overdose prevention, harm reduction, drug treatment and criminal justice.
‘A disgrace’: Ice inquiry commissioner accuses government of ignoring calls for reform
5 May 2021
The commissioner who led the state’s ice inquiry has accused the NSW government of missing a once-in-a-generation opportunity for drug reform and ignoring his recommendations 15 months after handing down a landmark report.
5 May 2021
The commissioner who led the state’s ice inquiry has accused the NSW government of missing a once-in-a-generation opportunity for drug reform and ignoring his recommendations 15 months after handing down a landmark report.
Overdose crisis: The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare decades of drug policy failures
30 Apr 2021
A syndemic occurs when multiple public health emergencies interact to make each other worse. This past year clearly fits the label: the global COVID-19 pandemic has indisputably intensified the existing drug overdose crisis in Canada.
30 Apr 2021
A syndemic occurs when multiple public health emergencies interact to make each other worse. This past year clearly fits the label: the global COVID-19 pandemic has indisputably intensified the existing drug overdose crisis in Canada.
Bolsonaro’s Cabinet Crusade Against Cannabis is Racist and Classist
30 Apr 2021
The authors of a new government report claim that the debate on legalisation needs to be neutral. From a semiotic point of view, though, a picture of a person covering their face in signal of distress while rejecting a bag containing what seems to be cocaine powder in a primer with arguments against the legalisation of cannabis does not look neutral.
30 Apr 2021
The authors of a new government report claim that the debate on legalisation needs to be neutral. From a semiotic point of view, though, a picture of a person covering their face in signal of distress while rejecting a bag containing what seems to be cocaine powder in a primer with arguments against the legalisation of cannabis does not look neutral.
How Fear, Misinformation, Stigma Have Devastated US Pain Patients
29 Apr 2021
Tamera Lynn Stewart had been taking prescribed opioids for 12 years to treat her chronic pain, following some cancer-related surgeries. Then one day in April 2018, her doctor told her he could no longer maintain the treatment that had worked so well for all those years.
29 Apr 2021
Tamera Lynn Stewart had been taking prescribed opioids for 12 years to treat her chronic pain, following some cancer-related surgeries. Then one day in April 2018, her doctor told her he could no longer maintain the treatment that had worked so well for all those years.
The Opioid Crisis explained in under 5 minutes
28 Apr 2021
The overdose crisis is now one of America's biggest killers, with misuse of opioids as the main driver of deaths. Social challenges of the last decade, from the financial crisis of 2008 to the COVID-19 epidemic, saw the spread of stronger synthetic opioids like fentanyl and the incapacity of the war on drugs to protect people
28 Apr 2021
The overdose crisis is now one of America's biggest killers, with misuse of opioids as the main driver of deaths. Social challenges of the last decade, from the financial crisis of 2008 to the COVID-19 epidemic, saw the spread of stronger synthetic opioids like fentanyl and the incapacity of the war on drugs to protect people
A Survivor’s Perspective on San Francisco’s Drug Crisis
27 Apr 2021
A poignant voice in the debate over what can be done to combat overdose deaths.
27 Apr 2021
A poignant voice in the debate over what can be done to combat overdose deaths.
Legalizing Opioids: Three Proposed Models for Non-Medical Use
21 Apr 2021
According to Mark Haden, who co-authored the paper with Brian Emerson and is a professor at the University of British Columbia’s school of Population and Public Health, both the prohibition of opioids and the commercialization of opioids for medical use have contributed to the overdose crisis.
21 Apr 2021
According to Mark Haden, who co-authored the paper with Brian Emerson and is a professor at the University of British Columbia’s school of Population and Public Health, both the prohibition of opioids and the commercialization of opioids for medical use have contributed to the overdose crisis.
Taking painkillers away from those in desperate need is a cruel health policy
11 Apr 2021
Nice’s new guidelines prescribing exercise over drugs for chronic sufferers risk causing more distress
11 Apr 2021
Nice’s new guidelines prescribing exercise over drugs for chronic sufferers risk causing more distress
Government of Canada announces $20 million to help communities respond to increasing opioid-related overdoses (1)
1 Apr 2021
Projects will provide training and awareness on opioid overdose response to 2.4 million Canadians and enable the distribution of 58,000 naloxone kits
1 Apr 2021
Projects will provide training and awareness on opioid overdose response to 2.4 million Canadians and enable the distribution of 58,000 naloxone kits
The Spike in Drug Overdose Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Policy Options to Move Forward
26 Mar 2021
Since COVID-19 first started upending day-to-day life for Americans in March 2020, public health officials have been sounding the alarm about a potential surge in drug overdoses.
26 Mar 2021
Since COVID-19 first started upending day-to-day life for Americans in March 2020, public health officials have been sounding the alarm about a potential surge in drug overdoses.
