Last week, Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC published a valuable resource for individuals who use cannabis recreationally.
Take Care with Cannabis is a user friendly, concise, accessible one-page information source that outlines the potential risks of smoking and ingesting cannabis. Intended to protect the well being of individuals, Take Care with Cannabis provides insight into the impact of using the plant on a smoker’s lungs, cognitive abilities, and brain development during adolescence and early adulthood. It discusses how to stay safe when using cannabis and how to avoid toxic effects.
John Carsley, Medical Health Officer for co-author Vancouver Coastal Health said,
“It’s our responsibility as health care professionals to ensure that anyone who chooses to use cannabis has clear information about how they can take better care when using.
While cannabis is illegal in Canada, the reality is that a significant portion of the population uses it. And when they use it, it’s our desire to see them be as safe as possible.”
‘Harm reduction’ refers to policies, programs and practices that aim to reduce the negative health, social and economic consequences of using legal and illegal psychoactive drugs, without necessarily reducing drug use. Raising awareness about the realities and benefits of harm reduction for individuals, families and communities is core to the work of the CDPC.
We know that the more informed people are, the more support there will be within communities for a comprehensive approach to reducing the harm from drug use.
We hope you will join us to get the word out and help scale up harm reduction in communities across Canada.
