I am going to assume that letter-writer C. Gwendolyn Landolt has not actually visited Insite in Vancouver. Considering her position as the president of the Drug Prevention Network, I personally look upon it as an obligation to do so. To suggest that the research backing Insite is biased only serves to continue the cycle of misinformation and miscommunication that has dogged Insite since its conception. The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet and the Canadian Medical Association Journal have all released articles approving of Insite -would Ms. Landolt like to call their integrity into question as well? For that matter, the B.C. Nurses Union and the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS have also affirmed the validity of care and interventions of Insite. Are they also to be called into question as legitimate bodies of knowledge on the subject? [continues 109 words]
Insite Court Challenge Based on Conservative Ideology While B.C. is experiencing an epidemic of heroin overdose deaths, the federal government is using our tax dollars to mount a Supreme Court challenge in an attempt to close down Vancouver's pioneering Insite supervised injection centre. This is a move that combines ideological bone-headedness with moral and fiscal stupidity. Our tax dollars are being wasted on an attempt to destroy a clinical model that saves lives, fights addiction without punishing addicts and reduces public outlays on emergency medicine and law enforcement. [continues 622 words]
In less than 24 hours, the Supreme Court of Canada will begin hearing arguments concerning the fate of Insite, Canada's supervised injection site. The provincial government, drug users and various health and social agencies will argue the site should remain open, while the federal government will argue that it has the authority to shut the site down. The feds therefore seem outnumbered, but that's not the worst of it. Rather, the weight of the evidence, both legal and scientific, also favours the province. And this alone is reason enough for the federal government to reconsider its position. [continues 467 words]
To the editor: Re: 'Canadians back tougher sentences for drug dealers: Norlock', Feb. 17, 2011. MP Rick Norlock exemplifies the Conservatives laissez faire attitude regarding Bill S-10's ramifications for gravely ill Canadians who use cannabis as medicine. Overwhelming barriers stymie access to the now 10 year old constitutionally deficient Medical Marijuana Access Program. Only 6,000 patients have received a"Health Canada pink slip"validating their medical marijuana requirement. According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal (May 15, 2001; 164 (10)), at least 400,000 Canadians consume cannabis for medical purposes. This vast discrepancy guarantees that Bill S-10 would target and incarcerate severely ill citizens who are merely seeking to maintain a medication supply. [continues 82 words]
Background: Chronic neuropathic pain affects 1%-2% of the adult population and is often refractory to standard pharmacologic treatment. Patients with chronic pain have reported using smoked cannabis to relieve pain, improve sleep and improve mood. Methods: Adults with post-traumatic or postsurgical neuropathic pain were randomly assigned to receive cannabis at four potencies (0%, 2.5%, 6% and 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol) over four 14-day periods in a crossover trial. Participants inhaled a single 25-mg dose through a pipe three times daily for the first five days in each cycle, followed by a nine-day washout period. Daily average pain intensity was measured using an 11-point numeric rating scale. We recorded effects on mood, sleep and quality of life, as well as adverse events. [continues 258 words]
People with chronic pain who took just a puff of marijuana three times a day got some mild pain relief and, with rare exceptions, did so without getting high, a Canadian study reports. (Yes, they inhaled.) The patients, who suffered from persistent nerve damage that did not respond to other pain drugs, also reported better sleep and less anxiety, the researchers said. The study is one of the first randomly controlled clinical trials to test the pain-relieving properties of smoked marijuana and of its active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, said Dr. Mark A. Ware, a pain researcher at McGill University in Montreal who was lead author of the paper, published in The Canadian Medical Association Journal. [continues 137 words]
The federal government has it half right. We have a drug problem. But it's not marijuana, which has never killed anyone. It's the abuse of prescription drugs which kills hundreds of Canadians annually. Whether it's because of ongoing pain, depression or the urge to get high, more and more people are heading to their doctors - not the neighbourhood pusher - for a fix. As the International Narcotics Control Board noted in its 2009 annual report, the abuse of prescription drugs in North America is second only to the abuse of cannabis. [continues 483 words]
Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. Three different potencies (2.5 per cent, six per cent and 9.4 per cent) of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, were tested against a placebo, or "dummy" pot in 21 patients with neuropathic pain, none of whom had responded to standard treatments. [continues 816 words]
Smoking pot can make some of the pain go away, without the patient getting high. The finding comes from what researchers in Montreal believe to be the first outpatient clinical trial of smoked cannabis, involving 21 people with chronic neuropathic pain. The results, which included improvements in mood and sleep, were published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Dr. Mark Ware and colleagues at McGill University and McGill University Health Centre got the ball rolling for the study almost a decade ago, but found it was a long road to get all the necessary approvals and import a convincing marijuana placebo from the United States. [continues 908 words]
Research Took Almost 10 Years to Complete Smoking pot can make some of the pain go away, without the patient getting high. The finding comes from what researchers in Montreal believe to be the first outpatient clinical trial of smoked cannabis, involving 21 people with chronic neuropathic pain. The results, which included improvements in mood and sleep, were published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Dr. Mark Ware and colleagues at McGill University and McGill University Health Centre got the ball rolling for the study almost a decade ago, but found it was a long road to get all the necessary approvals and import a convincing marijuana placebo from the United States. [continues 282 words]
Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. Three potencies (2.5 per cent, six per cent and 9.4 per cent) of THC, marijuana's active ingredient, were tested against a placebo in 21 patients with neuropathic pain, none of whom had responded to standard treatments. [continues 125 words]
Treatment Also Improved Mood, Helped Patients Sleep Briefly inhaling cannabis just three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 515 words]
Smoking Marijuana Relieves Chronic Suffering, Study Reveals Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 600 words]
Study Used Cannabis From Prairie Plant Systems Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 755 words]
Trial Participants Reported Better Sleep, Less Anxiety At Low Doses Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians -- without making them high -- Montreal researchers are reporting. The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain -- a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain -- smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep. [continues 525 words]
Montreal Researchers Establish Scientific Basis For Medical Use Of Drug A team of Montreal researchers has lent scientific credibility to the view that smoking marijuana can ease chronic neuropathic pain and help patients sleep better. People suffering from neuropathic pain often turn to opioids, antidepressants and local anesthetics, but those treatments have limitations and the side effects can be punishing. Many physicians and policy-makers, however, are reluctant to advocate the use of cannabis since there has been little scientific research into its effectiveness, even though patients champion its use. [continues 682 words]
Medical marijuana study by McGill University is the first of its kind to prove the pain-relieving benefits of cannabis Chris's pain relief lies in half a cookie made with marijuana, eaten every two hours, plus one or two puffs off a joint on the hour and the occasional pot lollipop. Chris started using legal marijuana, furnished by Health Canada, to dampen constant pain and improve sleep and mood, after a violent car accident shattered the bones in his face. [continues 743 words]
It's sad, but no doubt necessary that police want Ottawa pharmacies to start behaving more like banks as a way of dealing with the growing number of robberies of opioid painkillers such as OxyContin. Whatever their clinical benefits, these painkillers are dangerously addictive. The slang term for OxyContin is Hillbilly Heroin, and it has played a cameo role in the southwestern Ontario murder case of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford (some key players were reportedly addicts). Canadian actor Corey Haim, who died earlier this year, had a long history of prescription drug addiction. [continues 458 words]
KELOWNA, B.C. (CUP) - Dean Wilson is a 38-year -old heroin addict inflicted with Hepatitis C. Shelly Tomic is disabled by depression and arthritis in addition to her addiction to heroin. They are both users of the Insite safe-injection site in Vancouver, and they've won the battle to keep Insite open. A new decision by the B.C. Court of Appeal has found that the laws that make such sites illegal infringe on these persons' charter rights to life, liberty and security. [continues 634 words]
KELOWNA (CUP) - Dean Wilson is a 38-year heroin addict inflicted with Hepatitis C. Shelly Tomic is disabled by depression and arthritis in addition to her heroin addiction. They're both users of the Insite safe-injection site in Vancouver, and they've won the battle to keep Insite open. A new decision by the B.C. Court of Appeal has found that the laws that make such sites illegal infringe on these persons' charter rights to life, liberty, and security. [continues 578 words]
TORONTO - Accidental deaths due to opioid use in Ontario have soared over the past couple of decades, increasing dramatically after a new long-acting version of the drug oxycodone - sold as OxyContin - hit the market, a new study suggests. Opioid-related deaths claim more people each year in Ontario than HIV, with 27 in a million people dying from an opioid-induced overdose versus 12 in a million to HIV, the researchers reported Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Lead author Dr. Irfan Dhalla said there's been a suspicion among physicians that deaths due to prescription opioid use were on the rise, but this was the first effort to quantify it in Ontario. He admitted the effect was greater than he anticipated. [continues 522 words]
Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver councillors will not state a position on whether a supervised crack cocaine smoking facility should open in the city. Vision Coun. Kerry Jang said the party's caucus discussed the issue but more information is required about what prompted a recent call by research scientists for such a facility. Jang was referring to a study published last month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that revealed a spike in HIV rates among the city's crack smokers. The researchers recommended opening a supervised inhalation room and conducting a scientific trial to see if HIV rates would decrease. Dr. Perry Kendall, the province's chief medical health officer, supports the recommendation. [continues 433 words]
When Canadians think of crack cocaine, many remember disturbing television images seen in the late 1980's, when the drug first gained notoriety in the United States. More recently, crack has emerged as an enormous health and social problem in many Canadian cities. Last month, a group of Vancouver researchers published a 10-year study from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The study, which I led, revealed a pair of significant findings: one, a massive increase in crack-cocaine use in recent years, and two, daily crack users have a four-fold higher rate of HIV infection. The study also made various recommendations to deal with rising crack-cocaine use and the corresponding increase in HIV. [continues 512 words]
Study Implies Correlation Between Crack Pipes, HIV Transmission The nonprofit society that operates the city's supervised injection site plans to reapply to Health Canada for approval to open a room in the facility to allow people to smoke crack cocaine. The move by the PHS Community Services Society comes as a study published this month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal revealed a spike in HIV rates in the city's crack smokers. "That study did surprise me that there was that serious correlation," said Mark Townsend, executive director of the PHS, which operates the Insite drug injection site on East Hastings in conjunction with Vancouver Coastal Health. [continues 456 words]
If B.C. hopes to set up a place where crack addicts smoke up legally, it will have to contend with the federal government. Health Canada has said any additions to InSite's supervised injection site would require another federal exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act - an exemption Ottawa refused to renew for InSite nearly two years ago. "All activities with narcotics such as cocaine and crack cocaine are prohibited under the CDSA unless authorized under the regulations," said Health Canada spokesman David Thomas. "If B.C. established such a site [without permission], this would become a matter for law enforcement." [continues 539 words]
It's no secret that injecting drugs carries with it many dangers, not the least of which is the risk of infection with the HIV and hepatitis C viruses. Consequently, public health authorities have implemented many innovative and successful interventions, such as needle exchanges and Vancouver's supervised injection site, to reduce the risks of infection. What has been a secret, though, is the risks of infection associated with smoking crack cocaine. Although evidence from the U.S. as far back as the mid-1990s suggested that smoking crack is associated with HIV infection, the fact that the drug is smoked rather than injected led many people to believe that the risks were not significant. [continues 525 words]
Government authorities should allow medically supervised sites where crack-cocaine users can legally smoke their potent drug, researchers and British Columbia's top public-health doctor urged Monday after a new study suggested crack addicts are particularly prone to contracting HIV. Sanctioned, safe crack houses would help curb the rampant transmission of dangerous infections among cocaine smokers, say proponents of the latest version of harm reduction, a controversial strategy that essentially condones an illegal activity to prevent an allegedly worse health problem. They also recommended that public-health officials be permitted to distribute "safe crack kits," including glass pipes designed to lessen the spread of viruses. [continues 254 words]
Only Way To Help Addicts Is To Get Them To Quit The suggestion by Vancouver medical researchers that we should set up safe-inhalation rooms for crack addicts is, in my view, crackers . . . but hardly surprising. For at least 20 years now, the B.C. health establishment, hooked on the tired old ideology of "harm reduction," has been having a hard time saying no to the powerful drug lobby in the Downtown Eastside. But it doesn't take a long visit there for one to see that harm-reduction approaches, such as handing out free needles and laying on a so-called safe-injection site for hard-drug addicts, have proved to be a colossal failure. [continues 422 words]
Government authorities should allow medically supervised sites where crack-cocaine users can legally smoke their potent drug, researchers and British Columbia's top public-health doctor urged after a new study suggested crack addicts are particularly prone to contracting HIV. Sanctioned, safe crack houses would help curb the rampant transmission of dangerous infections among cocaine smokers, say proponents of the latest version of harm reduction, a controversial strategy that essentially condones an illegal activity to prevent an allegedly worse health problem. They also recommended that public-health officials be permitted to distribute "safe crack kits," including glass pipes designed to lessen the spread of viruses. [continues 147 words]
One of the caveats against a harm reduction approach to drug abuse is that you have to be pretty sure the steps you are taking will actually reduce harm. Researchers in Vancouver have taken an audacious step this week by calling for crack cocaine use to be considered an independent source of HIV risk, based on a new local study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and recommending the possible adoption of "safer crack kits" and supervised inhalation rooms at existing drug-injection sites as strategies for reducing the spread of the virus. [continues 718 words]
B. C. Public Health Supports Strategy To Help Addicts Government authorities should allow medically supervised sites where crack-cocaine users can legally smoke their potent drug, researchers and B. C.'s top public-health doctor urged yesterday after a new study suggested crack addicts are particularly prone to contracting HIV. Sanctioned, safe crack houses would help curb the rampant transmission of dangerous infections among cocaine smokers, say proponents of the latest version of harm reduction, a controversial strategy that essentially condones an illegal activity to prevent an allegedly worse health problem. They also recommended that public-health officials be permitted to distribute "safe crack kits," including glass pipes designed to lessen the spread of viruses. [continues 605 words]
Does Our Drug Policy Really Have Four Pillars, Or Is There Just 'One Shaky Toothpick?' It's Thursday night and Johnny Young is cruising back alleys of the Downtown Eastside where street lights shine on a woman picking crack from a palm, an addict with a needle rolling down his sock. Everyone seems to know Young. The one-time addict spends hours every week trolling the dark heart of the drug ghetto. But he's not here to score. He's here to help. [continues 1529 words]
Police deserve credit for skilful work in a regional investigation that led to the seizure of assorted drugs and cash. And the discovery of a crossbow, sword and ammunition in the raids are reminder of the violence that accompanies drug dealing. But police Chief Jamie Graham's assertion that seizures over the past three months have "stemmed the flow of drugs into our community" isn't borne out by any evidence. Similarly, his claim that the latest seizure resulted in 1,800 fewer drug deals seems unlikely. [continues 233 words]
Consumers Of Both Drugs Run Three Times The Risk Of Lung Disease People who habitually smoke both tobacco and marijuana are about three times more likely than non-smokers to develop serious lung disease, according to results of a British Columbia study. That affects a lot of people because nearly 20 per cent of Vancouverites over the age of 40 do or have done just that, according to the findings of a survey conducted by a team from Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital. [continues 445 words]
Correspondence to: Dr. Donald P. Tashkin, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles CA 90095-1690, USA; fax 310 206-5088; dtashkin@mednet.ucla.edu Marijuana is the second most commonly smoked substance worldwide after tobacco.1 The constituents of marijuana smoke are qualitatively and, to a large extent, quantitatively similar to those of tobacco smoke, with the exceptions of 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), found only in marijuana, and nicotine, found only in tobacco. Given these similarities, there is concern that the health risks of regular marijuana smoking may be similar to those of habitual tobacco smoking. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is associated with high morbidity and mortality, is among those risks. [continues 1585 words]
From the iCapture Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research (Tan, Lo, Jong, Xing, Sin), St. Paul's Hospital and the University of British Columbia, and the Vancouver General Hospital (FitzGerald), Vancouver, BC; the Oregon Health and Sciences University (Vollmer) and the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (Buist), Portland, USA Correspondence to: Dr. Wan C. Tan, University of British Columbia, iCapture Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research, St. Paul's Hospital, 1081 Burrard St., Vancouver BC V6Z 1Y6; fax 604 806-8351; wtan@mrl.ubc.ca [continues 292 words]
Smokers who light up an occasional joint may be putting themselves at a dramatically higher risk of developing chronic lung disease, according to a new study by Canadian researchers. The findings indicate that marijuana, even in small doses, seems to accelerate the harmful effects of smoking and greatly boosts respiratory problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The disease, which is often caused by smoking, actually encompasses a few disorders, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. People with COPD often have difficulty breathing and shortness of breath, and experience increased coughing. It's one of the leading causes of death in Canada. [continues 497 words]
Chances Of Serious Lung Disease About Three Times More Likely Than In Non-Smokers, Study Says People who habitually smoke both tobacco and marijuana are about three times more likely than non-smokers to develop serious lung disease. That affects a lot of people because nearly 20 per cent of Vancouverites over the age of 40 do or have done just that, according to a new study by a team from St. Paul's Hospital. People who smoked only cigarettes were 2.7 times more likely than non-smokers to have chronic obstructive lung disease. Those who smoke or smoked both cigarettes and marijuana were 2.9 times more likely to have the disease. [continues 616 words]
If Vancouver has the equivalent of a public square, it's the fountain outside the old Vancouver Art Gallery downtown where, last week, I smelled an unmistakable aroma coming from the vicinity of two young men rolling white filter papers. Pot. Right out in the open -- in full view of, well, everybody. I shouldn't have been taken aback; this same smell can be picked up in any Vancouver park or corner any day of the week. It surprised me when I moved west 20 years ago. These days I'm accustomed to it. [continues 483 words]
Liberal MP Keith Martin, who introduced a private member's bill this week, rightly maintains that 'the war on drugs has been a complete failure' If Vancouver has the equivalent of a public square, it's the fountain outside the old Vancouver Art Gallery downtown, where last week, I smelled an unmistakable aroma coming from the vicinity of two young men rolling white filter papers. Pot. Right out there in the open -- in full view of, well, everybody. I shouldn't have been taken aback; this same smell can be picked up in any Vancouver park or on a corner any day of the week. It once surprised me when I moved west 20 years ago. These days I'm accustomed to it. [continues 486 words]
It's a grim rite of spring in Edmonton. As Old Man Winter finally loosens his grip on the city, the melting snow reveals the enormous piles of garbage that's been piling up. The discarded trash is more than a disgusting eyesore. Some of it's a biohazard. Every year, city cleanup crews pick up hundreds of needles cast aside by street junkies, potentially exposing anyone who comes into contact with them to HIV, Hep C or any of a host of other viruses. [continues 530 words]
Dear Editor. Implementing the recently proposed changes to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act will be devastating for chronically and critically ill Canadians. The Justice Department website reveals that Bill C-15, if passed as written, would send anyone convicted of cultivating as little as one cannabis plant to jail automatically for six months. This government already leaves hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients out on a limb. Health Canada's unconstitutional Medical Marijuana Access program provides legal protection to only 2,812 of the approximately 400,000 Canadians requiring medicinal cannabis (Canadian Medical Association Journal; May 15, 2001). [continues 180 words]
To the editor, Implementing the recently proposed changes to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act will be devastating for chronically and critically ill Canadians. The Justice Department website reveals that Bill C-15, if passed as written, would send anyone convicted of cultivating as little as one cannabis plant to jail automatically for six months. This government already leaves hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients out on a limb. Health Canada's unconstitutional Medical Marijuana Access program provides legal protection to only 2812 of the approximately 400,000 Canadians requiring medicinal cannabis (Canadian Medical Association Journal; May 15, 2001). [continues 179 words]
To the editor, Implementing the recently proposed changes to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act will be devastating for chronically and critically ill Canadians. The Justice Department website reveals that Bill C-15, if passed as written, would send anyone convicted of cultivating as little as one cannabis plant to jail automatically for six months. This government already leaves hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients out on a limb. Health Canada's unconstitutional Medical Marijuana Access program provides legal protection to only 2,812 of the approximately 400,000 Canadians requiring medicinal cannabis (Canadian Medical Association Journal; May 15, 2001). [continues 181 words]
