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Category: covid research

  • Changing Circumstances Around Opioid-Related Deaths in Ontario during COVID-19

    Changing Circumstances Around Opioid-Related Deaths in Ontario during COVID-19

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    “High rates of opioid-related deaths across Canada have been a significant and longstanding national public health issue.1 In 2019, there were almost 4,000 opioid-related deaths across the country, of which over 94% were accidental.2 The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the midst of this ongoing epidemic of opioid-related deaths, and resulted in the declaration of a state of emergency in Ontario on March 17, 2020.3 Within Ontario, the pandemic response has consisted of waves of public health restrictions of varying severity to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. “

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  • Prelim. patterns around opioid-related deaths in ON during COVID-19

    Prelim. patterns around opioid-related deaths in ON during COVID-19

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    “The rising rate of opioid-related deaths across Canada has been an ongoing and significant national public health crisis for over a decade.1 In just the first three months of 2020, there were 1,018 opioid- related deaths recorded in Canada, the vast majority of which (96%) were accidental.2 In the midst of this ongoing crisis, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario led to the provincial declaration of a state of emergency on March 17, 2020.3 Within Ontario, the first wave of the pandemic was addressed with public health restrictions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, which included physical distancing measures that resulted in reduced capacity for pharmacies, outpatient clinics, and harm reduction sites providing care to people who use drugs. Despite the intention to reduce the impact of COVID-19, there is concern that these measures could lead to unintended harms.”

    Source: Ontario Drug Policy Research Network

  • Convergent risk of COVID-19 and bacterial and viral infections among PWUD

    Convergent risk of COVID-19 and bacterial and viral infections among PWUD

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    “Without adequate access to harm reduction interventions, PWUD are potentially at greater risk of acquiring blood-borne viruses (BBVs) and severe bacterial infections. Individual, social, and structural determinants of health (e.g., unstable housing, incarceration, poverty, drug criminalization) associated with increased risk for bacterial infections and BBVs will likely place PWUD at greater risk of COVID-19 disease and death.”

    Source: International Journal of Drug Policy

  • Impact of COVID-19 on people who use drugs

    Impact of COVID-19 on people who use drugs

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    “All respondents discussed the interconnected effects COVID-19 has had on their lives. Pandemic response measures such as physical distancing and social isolation have disrupted the healthcare and support services that people who use or have used substances and their communities typically rely on. As a result, best practices that existed before the pandemic to promote well-being, such as not using substances alone and having peer responders for accidental overdose, were now seen as putting people at risk. These effects of COVID-19 have exposed or aggravated health vulnerabilities for those who use substances, but have also encouraged creative, resilient responses to care for their well-being during this time.”

    Source: Canadian Centre on Substance Use

  • Syringe services program operational changes during COVID-19 outbreak

    Syringe services program operational changes during COVID-19 outbreak

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    “Syringe services program (SSP) operational changes during the COVID-19 global outbreak. Syringe services programs (SSPs) are community-based programs that offer tailored social and medical services to PWID, including access to sterile and clean injection equipment, onsite and referrals to sub- stance use treatment, HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) testing, and overdose prevention through naloxone distribution. Currently, there are over 400 SSP locations across the United States (US) providing life-saving care to PWID. However, with the unprecedented developments regarding COVID-19, service delivery may be severely disrupted, and operational changes may be imperative to protect SSP staff and to ensure continuity of services. We provide preliminary data regarding SSP operational and service delivery changes during the US’ response to the COVID-19 global pandemic and provide key policy and service provision im- plications for SSPs.”

    Source: International Journal of Drug Policy

  • Expanded Response Options to Opioid Harms: Case Study from Four Cities

    Expanded Response Options to Opioid Harms: Case Study from Four Cities

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    “Canada is facing an urgent challenge to reduce the harms associated
    with the problematic use of opioids. More than 14,700 lives were lost to deaths apparently related to opioids between January 2016 and September 2019. During that same period, there were 19,490 hospitalizations for poisoning related opioid to opioids (Special Advisory Committee on the Epidemic of Opioid Overdoses, 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic compounds this ongoing public health crisis. There is a heightened need to reduce avoidable pressures on healthcare systems and support people who use opioids who may be at increased risk or unable to self-isolate during the pandemic.”

    Source: Canadian Centre on Substance Use

  • ‘Safer opioid distribution’ as an essential public health intervention for opioid mortality crisis

    ‘Safer opioid distribution’ as an essential public health intervention for opioid mortality crisis

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    Highlights:

    • Canada experiences excessive opioid mortality, mainly from toxic opioid exposure.
    • Many interventions have been implemented, but are limited in reach and impact.
    • ‘Safer opioid distribution’ (SOD) is a crucial preventive measure for overdose.
    • SOD needs to be implemented for a large, ‘at-risk’ opioid user population.
    • Other community-based public health interventions may guide SOD organization.

    Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266653522030015X?via%3Dihub

  • A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Across the Globe

    A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Across the Globe

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    “Many countries continue to incarcerate and criminalise people for possession or use of drugs, with criminalisation alone undermining employment, education and housing opportunities. In addition, many people who use drugs are often subject to human rights abuses by the state in jurisdictions which continue to criminalise them. The continued targeting of this group has not only a negative impact on the individuals in question, but their families and broader society as a whole.

    The aim of this report is to inform the public and policymakers alike on the impact of decriminalising drug possession offences, showing that decriminalisation does not lead to increased rates of use while equally demonstrating that law enforcement led approaches have little impact on this metric. Rather, the decision to end the criminalisation of people who use drugs can negate the harms highlighted above when done effectively and produce positive social, health and economic outcomes, not just for the individual, but for society as a whole.”

    Source: Release, Drugs The Law & Human Rights

  • COVID-19 and the drug supply chain: from production and trafficking to use

    COVID-19 and the drug supply chain: from production and trafficking to use

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    “The COVID-19 crisis is taking its toll on the global economy, public health and our way of life. The virus has now infected more than 3.6 million people worldwide, killed 250,000 and led Governments to take drastic measures to limit the spread of coronavirus disease 2019. Roughly half of the global population is living under mobility restrictions, international border crossings have been closed and economic activity has declined drastically, as many countries have opted for the closure of non- essential businesses.

    Drug trafficking relies heavily on legal trade to camouflage its activities and on individuals being able to distribute drugs to consumers. The measures implemented by Governments to counter the COVID- 19 pandemic have thus inevitably affected all aspects of the illegal drug markets, from the production and trafficking of drugs to their consumption.”

    Source: United Nations Office and Drugs and Crime