February 2026 Newsletter

Upcoming Webinars

February 26th, 2026

"It helps me do things that are meaningful to me ... like my work"

Prescribed Alternatives for Harm Reduction Workers

Thursday February 26th

9 am PT / 10 am MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm ET / 1 pm AT / 1:30 NT

Speakers: Laura Cartwright and Emily Clayton from AVI’s KTE team

Our February webinar turns the spotlight on the experiences of harm reduction workers in Victoria BC who participate in AVI's Prescribed Alternatives (PA) Workforce program.

The Workforce Program provides access to PA (e.g., various formulations of prescribed fentanyl, opioid agonist treatment) to individuals employed in harm reduction roles. An interdisciplinary healthcare team provides wrap-around psychosocial support to participants.

This webinar will share evaluation findings of the Workforce Program, including participant outcomes and experiences, as well as recommendations.

AVI’s PA Workforce program was featured in CATIE’s Programming Spotlight this month. Read it here.

March 26, 2026

MySafe Final Evaluation Report:

Impacts of Program Closure

Thursday March 26th

9 am PT / 10 am MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm ET / 1 pm AT / 1:30 NT

Speakers: Tara Taylor (SpencerCreo Foundation), Isabelle Boisvert (Changemark) and Kaitlin Calligari

Join us for a conversation on the independent evaluation of the MySafe biometric medication dispensing program. MySafe was designed as a low-barrier, person-centred model providing secure access to prescribed alternatives through biometric dispensing machines paired with wraparound supports. In 2024, funding was abruptly discontinued amid shifting political and regulatory pressures. The closure left many participants navigating sudden transitions in care.

Based on in-depth interviews with former clients and service providers, this evaluation examines how the program shaped autonomy, access to care, stability, and daily functioning, and what changed when it ended. It also surfaces critical questions about sustainability, policy responsibility, and the ethics of implementing high-impact pilot programs without continuity safeguards.

In this webinar, we will:

- Share key findings from the evaluation

- Explore the human impacts of abrupt program closure

- Examine the policy and funding context that shaped the program’s trajectory

- Share calls to action

For healthcare and social service providers, researchers, policy-makers, and people with lived and living experience, this session offers space to look at what worked, what was disrupted, and what accountability and sustainability should look like going forward.

Missed a SUHN webinar?

Recordings are available on our website and YouTube channel

Have an idea for a webinar?

Want to present your research, resource, or program?

Other upcoming events

HIV Legal Network. Perspectives on Prison Programs.

When: Tuesday, February 24th, 2026 - 1-2:30 pm ET

Registration

CDPC. Critical conversations: connecting with Chinese-speaking communities about drug policy

When: Tuesday February 24th, 10 a.m. PT / 11 am MT / 12 pm CT / 1 pm ET / 2 pm AT / 2:30 NL

Registration

Toronto Opioid Overdose Action Network (TO2AN) ACS Community of Practice: ACS considerations for medetomidine

Drs. Brendan Hart and Nicole Desai, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia

When: Friday February 27, 11:30am-12:30pm

Please email Jen Ko (jennifer.ko@unityhealth.to) for meeting invite.

Drug Checking and TO2AN: Frontline perspectives and responses to medetomidine in the fentanyl supply

Brad Meck, Prevention Point, Philadelphia and Dr. Serge-Emile Simpson, Jefferson-Einstein Hospital, Philadelphia

When: Wednesday March 4, 10:00-11:30am

Registration

Moms Stop the Harm Connects Session. Involuntary Treatment: What are we really being asked to accept?

When: Sunday March 8th, 12 pm ET

Registration

MetaPhi. Working with Youth who Use Substances

When: March 18th, 7-8:30 pm ET

Registration

Health Data Research Network. Big IDEAS About Health Data Speaker Series: Social Contexts of Administrative Data About Substance Use Disorder

When: Thurs. March 26th, 1pm ET

Registration

Hosted by Tonya Evans and Andrzej Celinski from Reclaim Collective.

All welcome!

Thursdays - 9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET, 1 pm AT, 1:30 NL

Join us on Zoom (same link every week)

Each week’s topic is posted in our Google Group a couple of days before the meeting. Have a topic you want to discuss? Let us know!

*No meeting on webinar days

Webinar recordings, blogs, and resources

Beyond Do No Harm - Interrupting Criminalization. BDNH Storytelling Project: On the Consequences of Policing Patient Behavior in the Hospital

CATIE Programming Connections: Prescribed alternatives program for harm reduction workers and Drumbeat – Culturally responsive STBBI prevention services for ACB communities

Drug Data Decoded: Alberta government hiding additional drug jail plans

Filter Magazine. Dustin Godfrey. Documents Show BC Knew Safe-Supply Diversion Was Negligible; Lital Khaikin. In British Columbia, Drug Policy Rollbacks Are Limiting HIV Care. Sydney Sauer. Discontinued Canadian Safe Supply Program Was Working, Study Shows.

Project LETS. No Cops in Crisis Care - Community Care Options in a Crisis. A LETS guide to supporting each other without policing

CATIE Webinar recording: Enhancing harm reduction and sexual health programs for equity-deserving youth

CDPC Webinar recording: The Roots of Indigenous Harm Reduction with Denise Baldwin and Les Harper

SUHN Hot Topic Webinar recording: Shared Purpose: A community guide to ethical research partnerships

HIV Legal Webinar recording: Saving Supervised Consumption Sites

CATIE Vox Pop series from CCSA. Playlist.

J Healthcare Initiative. Overdose Prevention Circle: Information and Community Feedback survey

Hot Off the Press

Peer-reviewed articles

Research Spotlight

Michaud, L., Guta, A., Perri, M., Schaff, A., King, K., Strike, C. & Kolla G. 2026. “With this you’re not chained down to something”: contrasting experiences of opioid agonist treatment and safer supply program participation among people receiving prescribed safer supply. Harm Reduction Journal.

Background Prescribed safer supply provides pharmaceutical alternatives to reduce reliance on the toxic unregulated drug supply and mitigate overdose risk. While safer supply programs (SSP) have expanded in several Canadian jurisdictions and demonstrated individual- and population-level benefits, little is known about how participants’ experiences compare with prior opioid agonist therapy (OAT), or how SSP models differ from existing OAT approaches.

Methods We conducted qualitative interviews (n=22) with participants enrolled in a safer supply program in Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario. Using thematic analysis, we examined participants’ contrasting experiences of safer supply and OAT.

Results Participants identified key differences between SSP and OAT across program design and clinical practice, particularly in the management of withdrawal, tolerance, and medication side effects. Differences in care philosophy and service delivery shaped therapeutic relationships and afforded greater autonomy within SSP. This autonomy aligned with participants’ goals and supported retention - an essential component of overdose prevention.

Conclusion Findings highlight the importance of collaborative decision-making and flexible, individualized dosing across both OAT and safer supply models. Participants’ experiences suggest opportunities to strengthen substance use care by addressing longstanding limitations within traditional OAT models that may undermine retention and therapeutic benefit.

Other publications

Leis, B. et al. 2026. Management of infective endocarditis secondary to injection drug use: practical recommendations for clinicians from a Canadian working group

Norton, A., et al. 2025. View of Implementation Barriers and Outcomes of a Provincial Prescribed Safer Supply Initiative among Indigenous People who use Substances amid COVID-19 and a Toxic Drug Crisis in British Columbia, Canada

Hogan, K., et al. 2026. The characteristics and experiences of parents accessing prescribed safer supply in BC, 2020-2021

Christmas-Krumreich, C. and McNulty, C. Power and Politics in the Provision of Anti-oppressive Harm Reduction and Low Barrier Services to People Experiencing Multiple Mental Health Diagnoses, Active Addiction, and Homelessness in Kingston, Ontario, Canada: A Case Study of Sisyphus and His Rock

Asher Blackdeer, A. and Benedict, M. 2026. Decolonizing Trauma-Informed Care: Pathways to Healing Racial Trauma

Barkus, A. et al. 2026. Adapting opioid therapy: real-world analysis of switching from methadone to slow-release morphine and back amid COVID-19 supply chain disruptions | Addiction Science & Clinical Practice

Koranda, NW., et al. 2026. Program personnel perspectives and outcomes of the Minnesota Addiction Recovery Initiative (MARI) Safe Station program: A fire station-based substance use deflection program

Sharpe, C. et al. 2026. Pipes as an engagement tool: qualitative findings from a crack equipment and harm reduction training intervention in England

Bowring, et al. 2026. A cost–benefit analysis of the implementation and scale‐up of harm reduction interventions in the Australian Capital Territory

Ball, A. et al. 2026. Naloxone and Buprenorphine Treatment for Adolescent Opioid Overdose and Opioid Use Disorder: A Review JAMA Pediatrics

Guillaume Dumont and Felix. 2026. ‘Frightening Yet Fulfilling’: Vulnerability, Precarity and the Labour of Harm Reduction