Pubdate: Thu, 29 Sep 2016
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Vancouver 24 hrs.
Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters
Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Eric MacKenzie
Page: 3

SUBSTANCE ABUSE RESEARCH CENTRE PLANS FOR B.C. REVEALED

The provincial government announced that it is putting another $10
million toward addiction treatment and overdose prevention strategies,
with half of that amount planned to establish a new British Columbia
Centre on Substance Abuse.

The research centre will be tasked with positioning B.C. "as a leader
in delivering evidence-based addiction treatment," according to a
release, by determining best practices and helping link stakeholder
agencies, including health authorities, care providers and academic
institutions.

Dr. Evan Wood, the medical director of addiction services for
Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care, will act as the
centre's interim director. Wood said that the centre will "save lives
and advance overall public health by improving the quality of
addictions care, and the scale at which we are able to provide it."

The remaining $5 million would be dedicated to key priorities that
have been highlighted by the Joint Task Force on Overdose Prevention
and Response that was formed in July. That includes getting more
naloxone and related training to law enforcement agencies in the
province to better respond to members of the public suffering
overdoses and accidental officer exposure.

Other priorities include outreach strategies, drug testing and
identification equipment, creating new supervised consumption spaces
or mobile units, among other initiatives.
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MAP posted-by: Matt