Research Spotlight Webinars - SUHN Meetings - Upcoming Events - Podcasts, Webinars, Reports and More - Share your experience - New Research Publications - In the News

September Meetings

Monthly Clinician Meeting

For:  NPs, MDs, PAs, RNs, and Pharmacists

Goal: Connect, share clinical experiences, identify trends, strengthen the continuum of care for people who use drugs - informed by a harm reduction approach. It’s not just about prescribed alternatives! It’s about providing a full spectrum of care.

It’s time for a check up

Attendance at this meeting has dropped over the past few months. We want to know if clinicians want to meet. We have a survey to find out:       a) if people want a meeting b) what format works c) what time works  

d) what topics or speakers interest you.

Did you know?

• The meetings are not just about safer supply / prescribed alternatives - it’s to discuss any issue that providers face when providing care to people who use drugs.

• Meetings involve thinking critically about approaches to care with the goal of improving all types of care, ensuring that care is ethical, evidence-based, and safe for individuals and communities, and grounded in respect for autonomy.

• Registration is required so that we know who comes to the meetings. Currently, there are almost 100 people registered.

• Meeting minutes are not taken to protect anonymity and support open conversations.

Webinars:

CCSA Webinar: Community Policing and Health Partnerships

Sept. 17th 1-2 pm ET

Register

META:PHI Webinar: Methadone Prescribing -The Basics

Speakers: Katie Dunham and Meldon Kahan

Sep. 17th 7 pm ET

Info at https://www.metaphi.ca/community/ or register directly HERE.

CATIE Webinar: HIV and Pregnancy Planning

Sept. 24th 10 am PT / 1 pm ET

Register

Harm Reduction Action Collective - Meetings are on the second Tuesday of every month.

BC ECHO on Substance Use Sessions

- Sept 25, 12-1 pm PT - Extended-release Buprenorphine Injection for Opioid Use Disorder

- Oct 23, 12-1 pm PT - Considerations for Treatment of Pregnant People with Alcohol Use Disorder

- Nov 20, 12-1 pm PT - Considerations for Treating Benzodiazepine Use and Opioid Disorder

Moms Stop the Harm: Moving from Grief to Action with Hope to Make a Difference

Speaker: Irene Reilly, Author of OHANA, Love, Grief and Hope in the Time of the Opioid Crisis

Oct. 19th 1pm PT / 4pm ET

Register

Conference Alerts:

MetaPhi Virtual Conference (April 2026) Call for Abstracts

CPHA (Montreal, Feb 2026). Call for Submissions.

CAHN (Cdn Association of Hepatology Nurses). Richmond BC, Oct 3-4, 2025

INHSU. Cape Town, South Africa. Oct 14 -17, 2025

CSAM. Montreal, Oct 16-18, 2025

CAHN (Cdn Association of Hepatology Nurses). Richmond BC, Oct 3-4, 2025

Newfoundland and Labrador Centre on Substance Use Annual Conference. Virtual seats available. Nov 12-14, 2025

CCSA. Issues of Substance Conference - Halifax - Nov 17-19, 2025

CanHepC. Symposium on HCV Save - Save the date: Feb 26-28, 2026.

International Society of Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP). Perth, Australia. June 30-July 2, 2026.

International AIDS Conference. Rio de Janeiro. July 26-31.

Funding opportunities

HealthCare Excellence Canada has funding and mentorship opportunities. For more information:  

• Enhancing Integrated Care

• Paramedics and Social Prescribing

• Primary Care Access Improvement

Special Fundraising Campaigns

DULF Legal Aid Fundraiser - As Jeremy and Erys head to court next month, financial support is needed now more than ever. $116k out of the needed $350k has been raised. Let’s get them there.

Prairie Harm Reduction 0 Foundation of Care fundraising campaign to protect the drop-in centre, create

Moms Stop the Harm - A member will be matching all recurring monthly donations for the first month’s contributions up to $5000 - funds support advocacy and operation of Healing Hearts and Holding Hope peer support groups.

Reports, Resources, and More

First Nations Health Authority. With Open Arms: Supportive Conversations Among Friends. Toolkit made by and for First Nations Youth

Canadian Public Health Association. News Release: Ontario Misrepresents Crime Data to Justify Closure of Lifesaving Supervised Consumption Service

National hepatitis B and C estimates for 2021 51(6/7) - Canada.ca

CCSA / CCENDU Recent Trends in Opioid-Related Toxicity Deaths in Canada: Examining a Potential Decrease

CCSA. Evidence Brief: GLP-1s to Support Substance Use Health.

https://drugpolicy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pre-Budget-Submission_Canadian-Drug-Policy-Coalition_July-30-2025.pdf

BC The Community Helpline for Incarcerated People (CHIP) - British Columbia

Crackdown Podcast: The Man in the High Castle (June 30th)

In case you missed it - past webinars

SUHN Research Spotlight Webinar. Tracking In/Justice: a law enforcement and criminal legal data and transparency project. Webinar and resources.

Solidarity Across Borders: Support. Don’t Punish 2025 - Reclaim Collective solidarity event featuring speakers from Canada, USA, Puerto Rico, Nepal, Hungary, and Nigeria.  

Moms Stop the Harm: MSTH Connect: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Hepatitis C prevention, testing and treatment among Indigenous people in Canada | CATIE

Understanding brain injury: Strategies for Ontario harm reduction programs | CATIE

Research

Call for Papers

Progress on reducing opioid-related harms - BMC Public Health - deadline: Nov. 19th, 2025.

Recent Publications

Eren, IM, et al. 2025. “Street sweeps”: The municipal government-enforced confiscation of personal belongings among unstably housed people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada

McCormick, K.A., et al. 2025. 'People who do this work care deeply… and that makes it harder': A qualitative study of harm reduction workers’ occupational stressors, stress reactions, and coping responses

Hutchinson, A., et al. 2025. Exploring models of safer supply provision: A qualitative study on the preferences of people who access the unregulated drug market - ScienceDirect  

Ali, F., et al. 2025. The erosion of safer supply programs in Ontario, Canada: A dangerous step backward

Hawke, LD., et al. 2025. Gaps in the engagement of people with lived and living experience and caregivers in mental health and substance use health research: A qualitative study of untapped potential

Perry, D., et al. Opioid agonist therapy for opioid use disorder in primary versus specialty care

Garg, R., et al. 2025. Initiation and dose of methadone monotherapy versus combination therapy, 2015 to 2023 - ODPRN

Davis, A., et al. 2025. Access to healthcare among managed alcohol program participants: A mixed methods study

Freestone, J., et al. 2025. From environmental disasters to emerging drugs; a framework to understand, map and assess drug-related early warning systems

Vithayaveroj, P., et al. 2025. The Naloxone Project: Impact of Opioid Overdose Response Training on Medical Students’ Knowledge and Confidence

Navin, et al. 2025. Stronger isn’t always better: Nalmefene in community overdose response and the false promise of quick-fix public health solutions

Paradise, RK., et al. 2025. Building connection: overdose survivors’ and professional service providers’ perspectives on immediate post-overdose care

Ali, F., et al. 2025. Exploring unregulated substance use health data in Ontario, Canada: Identifying gaps, addressing challenges, and uncovering opportunities

Rothschild, D. 2025. A Convergence of Treatments and Ideas: Psychoanalysis Meets Harm Reduction Therapy

Caroll, N; Dickinson, T. 2025. “Not your normal drug dealing guy”: How people who sell drugs construct positive narrative identities  

Passmore, H., et al. 2025. Innovations at the intersection of homelessness and substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review

Leyde, S., et al. 2025. Methamphetamine Use Disorder.

Lasiychuck, V., et al. 2025. Gender differences regarding interest in opioid agonist treatment with hydromorphone: a cross-sectional study of syringe service program participants

Day, JK., et al. 2025. Freedom of Recreation: A Critique of the Prohibition, Decriminalization, and Legal Regulation of Psychedelics for Recreational Use

Dunham, K., et al. 2025.’I wanna know what I’m putting in my body’: Perceptions of drug checking services and supply information among people who use drugs in Rhode Island.

Masih, R., et al. 2025. Deployment of targeted outreach interventions utilizing a novel overdose predictive model in West Virginia’s state opioid response regional coordinators program

Gaiazov, S., et al. 2025. Factors associated with emergency room visits among patients with opioid use disorder: A study of buprenorphine-treated and untreated patients

Roth, AM., et al. 2025. HIV Services Implementation Within US Syringe Services Programs: A Qualitative Exploration

Friedmann, PD, et al. 2025. Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in County Jails — Outcomes after Release

Törrönen, J., et al. 2025. Parenting and heavy substance use: From neutralization theory to actor-network theory to avoid stigmatizing participants

McCoy, M., et al. 2025. https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ps.20240466

Villacis-Alvarez, E., et al. 2025. Barriers and recommendations for harm reduction services among people living with HIV in Manitoba, Canada: A qualitative study

Hibbert, M., et al. 2025. Understanding hepatitis C virus reinfections in England in the context of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health concern

Marotta, P.L., et al. 2025. Rural providers’ attitudes toward integrating harm reduction strategies and PrEP prescribing into rural primary care settings in the US. Southeast and Midwest

Sobers, M., et al. 2025. Mental health service use among Black adolescents in Ontario by sex and distress level: a cross-sectional study

Rains, A. 2025. A Narrative Review of Harm Reduction Interventions for Women and Gender Minority Individuals Who Use Drugs

Shaw, LC., et al., 2025. Gender-based differences in harm reduction practices among people who use drugs in Rhode island: a latent class analysis

Palamar, J.J., et al. 2025. Trends in nonmedical ketamine use, poisonings, related deaths, pharmaceutical diversions, and law enforcement seizures: results from annual population-based repeated cross-sectional studies

Childerhose, JE., et al.  2025. Prospective cohort study of fentanyl test strip use and distribution in three states: the stay safe study protocol and implementation recommendations for researchers

Blankers, M., et al. 2025. Three-Day Blues after Ecstasy/MDMA Use: Evidence from A Longitudinal And Daily Analysis in the European Nightlife Scene  

In the News

International

Learning to Love My Track Marks - by Matt Bonn - Filter Magazine

Overdoses should be termed "Prohibition-related deaths"

“Balance Your Buzz”—A Student-Led Alcohol Harm Reduction Initiative

Multiple overdose deaths linked to legal products sold in gas stations, smoke shops

California moves to close overdose protection loophole that deters students from seeking emergency help

This is Nashville (radio show): Sanctioned Harm Reduction

Cities Move Away From Strategies That Make Drug Use Safer

Yaba’s grip: how cheap methamphetamine is fuelling Thailand’s addiction crisis

Venezuela and the US’s ‘failed’ war on drugs

The ‘war on drugs’ has failed. There’s another way to solve the US fentanyl crisis

Despite relaxed prescribing rules, opioid addiction treatment still hard to find at pharmacies

Ozempic Could Reduce Cocaine Addiction

A dangerous new class of synthetic opioid is spreading

National

Opioid deaths in Canada fell 17% in 2024, but thousands are still dying

What correctional officers think about harm-reduction services for incarcerated people with drug addictions

BC

‘Who wouldn’t want pure cocaine?’: the radical plan to prevent overdoses with better drugs

Close link between street sweeps, overdose and systemic harm: SFU study

First Nations communities are leading innovative harm-reduction programs grounded in connection

More youth will be supported with tools to prevent addiction, substance use

From shame and secrecy to Suboxone: B.C. drug users credit harm reduction for recoveries

Introducing a whole-campus approach to substance-use health

Addiction, connection and sobriety: Guy Felicella shares B.C. story of recovery

How B.C.’s approach to toxic drugs and addiction is changing

How harm reduction efforts save lives

Alberta

Addiction recovery community opens in southeast Calgary

Overdoses of opioid more toxic than fentanyl increasing in Edmonton: Recovery Alberta

Province set to pull funding for Red Deer harm reduction non-profit

‘It’s really hard to stay on top of it’: Harm reduction workers host drop-in event focused on education, compassion

Saskatchewan

‘This is not a warning’: 47 overdoses within three days, says NDP

Métis Nation-Saskatchewan declares state of emergency due to crisis of addiction, violence

Healing works, but First Nation opioid crisis isn't stopping

Prairie Harm Reduction, NDP call for urgent overdose action; government touts progress

Saskatchewan launches wellness buses to expand addiction care

Regina’s Overdose Outreach Team holds overdose awareness event at Victoria Park

Prairie Harm Reduction warns of deadly drug cocktail circulating Saskatoon

Reject legislation that defines hypodermic needles as weapons, Regina harm reduction activists urge city

Wâhkôhtowin Harm Reduction in Regina holds grand re-opening after fire forced its closure

Manitoba

Homeless census records highest number of people on Winnipeg streets

Ontario

CPHA accuses province of misleading public to shut down safe consumption site

Crime rate around Somerset supervised consumption site lower than government suggested when announcing closure

Hamilton had record number of suspected opioid overdose calls in July

Ontario big cities see more public drug use, paramedic calls since consumption site closures

In this provocative art installation, drug users write their own obituaries

‘It gives people hope’: St. Thomas lauded for efforts to combat addiction and homelessness

Organization getting set to help with addiction and mental health issues

Health System News A New Addictions Centre Embracing Connected Care

Sault Study: Why opioids are so addictive, no matter who you are

Opioids in the Sault: How one terrible night exposed a crisis in our city

Opioid-related deaths on the decline in Guelph, but recent trends could have deadly results

Digging into the numbers behind Toronto's recent drop in opioid deaths

Ultra-potent opioid carfentanil circulating at record levels in Toronto

Barrie mayor vows to crackdown on crime, opioid crisis with state of emergency

A transitional housing program for people facing mental health or substance use challenges

North Bay police cracking down on open-air drug use with possession charges

Local harm reduction option?

Harm reduction drop-in combats stigma for Sudbury women  

Quebec

Opioid poisoning deaths down in Canada, but not in Quebec

Public health officials warn of animal sedatives increasingly found in Montreal's drug supply |

Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon

Restoring Yukon supervised consumption site operations at risk

'It has taken away some hope': Yukon sees 16 drug-related deaths in 2025 so far

“We Need to Talk About This Stuff” campaign returns | Government of Northwest Territories

Information sessions for new Mental Health Act coming to Nunavut communities

Iqaluit recovery centre to get Inuit-focused governance body

Newfoundland and Labrador

Corner Brook rally calls for quicker admissions to addiction recovery centres

Provincewide rallies call on N.L. to address rise in drug-related crime and addictions  

'The start of new stories': Vida Nova, N.L's newest addictions treatment centre, opens

'I'm the hopeless alcoholic and drug addict who did what they said I couldn't': Botwood Nan wants addicts to have hope

New Brunswick

RCMP increasing patrols to deal with homelessness, drug use

Mayor calls for provincial action on 'worsening social emergency'

Prince Edward Island

Ministers Working Together to Tackle Key Housing and Homelessness Issues

John Howard Society ends homelessness prevention program in P.E.I. after funding shortfall

Nova Scotia

12 walk-in addictive disorders support centres open in Nova Scotia

Program helps vulnerable people navigate Nova Scotia court system