Staying one step ahead of illicit drug makers
An international team of researchers is using artificial intelligence to predict new illegal drugs before they hit the streets – which could help save lives and fight crime. “We are anticipating what street drugs, or novel psychoactive substances, will appear before they are made or before they enter communities,” said team member David Wishart, University…
A report on drug abuse released by police chiefs is less about reducing drug abuse and more about protecting police budgets and jobs
The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) recently released a 14-page report on the decriminalization of drugs. The report points to a large body of evidence illustrating the efficacy of safe consumption sites in achieving a number of health and social objectives. That’s especially true when clients are offered access to integrated health and…
The answer to addiction will not be found in the industries of incarceration and prescription
On Oct. 21, pharmaceutical opioid distributors McKesson Corp., AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health, and drug manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed to a US$260-million settlement just hours before opening arguments were scheduled to begin in the first opioid-era federal lawsuit in Ohio. This is the first of hundreds of similar lawsuits filed by cities, counties, Native American tribes…
Abstinence-based treatment is ineffective. We need to invest heavily in harm reduction strategies
By Sen. Jane Cordy and Sen. Raymonde Gagné “I wasn’t born to be a drug addict,” said a brave member of the audience at our recent open caucus meeting in the Senate on the Opioid Crisis in Canada. He told us of his struggle with drug addiction over two decades. His closing words hung in…
Contrary to decades of marijuana proponent propaganda, it’s not a drug like alcohol or caffeine. It's very purpose is intoxication
There’s something quasi quaint about the federal government introducing legislation to legalize marijuana. News reporting on the budding bill has generously employed terrible puns to create a sense of giggling excitement about it. A Canadian Press story advised that all of Ottawa is “buzzing” at the audacity that dope represents. Buzzing? Among the permanently buzzed, perhaps.…
A firewall has to be built between pharmaceutical companies and physician training programs