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Hospital patients who use drugs may require prolonged parenteral antimicrobial therapy administered through a vascular access device (VAD). Clinicians’ concerns that patients may inject drugs into these device...
In Kyrgyzstan and other Eastern European and Central Asian countries, injection drug use and HIV-related intersectional stigma undermines HIV prevention efforts, fueling a rapidly expanding HIV epidemic. The K...
Worsening of the overdose crisis in the USA has been linked to the continuing proliferation of non-pharmaceutical fentanyl (NPF). The recent wave of NPF spread in the USA has been fueled by an increased presen...
Despite recent rises in fatal overdoses involving multiple substances, there is a paucity of knowledge about stimulant co-use patterns among people who use opioids (PWUO) or people being treated with medicatio...
When the novel coronavirus pandemic emerged in March 2020, many settings across Canada and the USA were already contending with an existing crisis of drug overdoses due to the toxic unregulated drug supply. In...
The increasing prevalence of highly potent, illicitly manufactured fentanyl and its analogues (IMF) in the USA is exacerbating the opioid epidemic which has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Narcan® (nalo...
Police in Canada have become main responders to behavioural health concerns in the community—a role that disproportionately harms people who use drugs (PWUD). Recent calls to defund the police emphasize the ne...
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) exacerbated risks for adverse health consequences among people who inject drugs by reducing access to sterile injection equipment, HIV testing, and syringe services programs...
British Columbia (BC) has been in a state of public health emergency since 2016, due to the unprecedented numbers of fatal and non-fatal drug toxicity (i.e. overdose) events. Methamphetamine detection in illic...
The emergence of widespread amphetamine-type stimulants (ATSs) usage has created significant challenges for drug control and treatment policies in Southeast Asian countries. This study analyses the development...
Vancouver, Canada, and Lisbon, Portugal, are both celebrated for their world-leading harm reduction policies and programs and regarded as models for other cities contending with the effects of increasing level...
To offer a critical reflection on an impoverished neighborhood in Vancouver, Canada, and their access to oral health care. A review of how a lack of publicly funded oral health care affects the most vulnerable...
In the context of the current U.S. injection drug use epidemic, targeted public health harm reduction strategies have traditionally focused on overdose prevention and reducing transmission of blood-borne viral...
This commentary explores the lessons learned during implementation of a peer-facilitated hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing and treatment access project called the Live Hep C Free (LHCF) project in contributing t...
Glassware can be an effective vehicle to recruit customers, revive brands, build profits and increase alcohol consumption by capitalising on the immediacy of glassware to the point of consumption. The design o...
People who use drugs (PWUD) are at high risk of experiencing indirect harms of measures implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19, given high reliance on services and social networks. This study aimed to docu...
Adolescence and young adulthood is an important period for substance use initiation and related harms. In the context of the ongoing opioid crisis, the risks for youth (ages 16–29) who use opioids are particul...
Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are globally widely used. Scientific literature generally defines four phases of substance use (initiation, continuation, increase and decrease); however, there is limited und...
Community-based harm reduction programs reduce morbidity and mortality associated with drug use. While hospital-based inpatient addiction consult services can also improve outcomes for patients using drugs, in...
The harmful use of alcohol is one of the leading health risk factors for people’s health worldwide, but some populations, like people who experience homelessness, are more vulnerable to its detrimental effects...
Supervised consumption services (SCS), intended to reduce morbidity and mortality among people who inject drugs, have been implemented in a variety of delivery models. We describe and compare access to and upt...
We report on a cost analysis study, using population level data to determine the emergency service costs avoided from emergency overdose management at supervised consumption services (SCS).
The resurgence of heroin use and the misuse of pharmaceutical opioids are some of the reasons for a worldwide increase in opioid dependence. Opioid Medication Therapies (OMT) have amply demonstrated their effi...
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is increasingly standard practice for critical qualitative health research with young people who use(d) drugs in Vancouver, Canada. One aim of CBPR in this context...
Opioid-related harms, including fatal and non-fatal overdoses, rose dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and presented unique challenges during outbreaks in congregate settings such as shelters. People wh...
Previous work has demonstrated that cannabis laws have had a disproportionate impact on Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2019, the New Zealand Government amended cannabis laws, providin...
Drug use is one of the most common public health problems globally. This study was done to analyze the agenda-setting of policies related to substance use disorder treatment in Iran since 1979.
Lockdown measures during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in France led to serious public health concerns over people who use illicit drugs, especially in terms of mental health. We assessed changes in ...
This study examines the effects of COVID-19 related restrictions on the supply of illicit drugs, drug-use behaviour among people who use drugs (PWUD) regularly (at least weekly), and drug-related service provi...
Over the last decade, one-month alcohol abstinence campaigns (OMACs) have been implemented within the general population in an increasing number of countries. We identified the published studies reporting data...
The development of harm reduction has been limited in many areas of Sweden. This study aims to understand the implications that this has for the life circumstances and risk management of people who use drugs i...
Opioid-related overdose deaths have been increasing in the United States (U.S.) in the last twenty years, creating a public health challenge. Take-home naloxone is an effective strategy for preventing opioid-r...
Book review of “The Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire.
Despite increased availability of take-home naloxone, many people who use opioids do so in unprotected contexts, with no other person who might administer naloxone present, increasing the likelihood that an ov...
There is a need to improve retention and outcomes for treatment of problem gambling and gambling disorder. Contingency management (CM) is a behavioural intervention involving identification of target behaviour...
Naloxone-based interventions as part of health systems can reverse an opioid overdose. Previous systematic reviews have identified the effectiveness of naloxone; however, the role of context and mechanisms for...
Drug overdoses occur when the amount of drug or combination of drugs consumed is toxic and negatively affects physiological functioning. Opioid overdoses are responsible for the majority of overdose deaths wor...
People who use, including those who inject, drugs in Indonesia are disproportionately affected by HIV, but tend to be diagnosed at a late stage of infection, delay initiation to and have poor rates of retentio...
Access for legal minors to needle and syringe programmes raises a number of practical, legal and ethical challenges that traverse clinical practice, child protection and child rights. This article addresses th...
Hospital-based addiction care focuses on assessing and diagnosing substance use disorders, managing withdrawal, and initiating medications for addiction treatment. Hospital harm reduction is generally limited ...
In May 2018, St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH) in Vancouver (Canada) opened an outdoor peer-led overdose prevention site (OPS) operated in partnership with Vancouver Coastal Health and RainCity Housing. At the end of ...
Dance festivals have been shown to be high-risk events for use of drugs such as ecstasy/MDMA and possible adverse effects associated with use. However, few studies have examined what makes festivals such risky...
Excessive alcohol consumption is an important risk factor for increased morbidity, mortality and other social harms globally. Televised sport allows the promotion of alcoholic drinks to a large and often young...
For people experiencing homelessness and problem substance use, access to appropriate services can be challenging. There is evidence that the development of trusting relationships with non-judgemental staff ca...
Unpredictable fluctuations in the illicit drug market increase overdose risk. Drug checking, or the use of technology to provide insight into the contents of illicit drug products, is an overdose prevention st...
In this essay, I show that notwithstanding the undeniable colonial origins of punitive drug policies around the world, such policies have figured in nationalist projects and populist platforms in various postc...
Opioid use disorder is a public health problem and treatment variability, coverage and accessibility poses some challenges. The study’s objective is to review the impact of interim opioid agonist treatment (OA...
The COVID-19 outbreak disproportionally affects vulnerable populations including people who inject drugs (PWID). Social distancing and stay-at-home orders might result in a lack of access to medical and social...
The opioid epidemic is a rapidly growing public health concern in the USA, as the number of overdose deaths continues to increase each year. One strategy for combating the rising number of overdoses is through...
Harm Reduction Journal