New Study: Fatal collisions involving young drivers increase by 38 per cent after pot-smoking celebrations The risk of a fatal accident among young drivers spikes by 38 per cent in the hours after 4/20 celebrations, according to new research from UBC and the University of Toronto. The finding suggests that mass marijuana celebrations may not be entirely without consequences. John Staples, a professor of medicine and researcher at UBC's Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, said people aged 20 and younger had a much higher risk of a fatal crash on April 20 from 4:20 p.m. until midnight compared to the same period one week before and one week after. [continues 377 words]
Provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall will call it a career next week, confident that the tools are finally in place to tackle the opioid overdose crisis that has ravaged this province for more than three years. Kendall has been among the chief architects of B.C.'s response to the deadly wave of powerful synthetic opioids that have largely replaced heroin in the illicit drug supply. Deputy provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry will replace Kendall when he officially retires on Jan. 31. Henry will become the first woman to serve as B.C.'s provincial health officer. [continues 801 words]
Nearly 7,000 life-saving naloxone kits have been used by harm reduction staff in B.C. so far this year and thousands more kits will be distributed by pharmacies to battle the effects of a contaminated drug supply. "That means you can get a kit at no charge if you use opioids or you are likely to witness an overdose," said Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy. "Already, 1,900 kits have been distributed to over 200 pharmacies around the province." [continues 606 words]
Overdose Crisis: Thousands more kits to be distributed this year through pharmacies Nearly 7,000 life-saving naloxone kits have been used by harm reduction staff in B.C. so far this year and thousands more kits will be distributed by pharmacies to battle the effects of a contaminated drug supply. "That means you can get a kit at no charge if you use opioids or you are likely to witness an overdose," said Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy. "Already, 1,900 kits have been distributed to over 200 pharmacies around the province." [continues 609 words]
Independent local researchers are raising money for the third phase of a groundbreaking study that uses the party drug ecstasy to treat patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. The study combines psychotherapy with the use of MDMA, which "enhances the effectiveness of the psychotherapy by helping patients to access and rework the unconscious painful emotions and memories in a safe environment," according to the researchers. MDMA has already shown promise as an adjunct to psychotherapy, according to the prestigious Lancet Psychiatry medical journal. A randomized controlled pilot study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that 83 per cent of PTSD patients responded positively to psychotherapy combined with MDMA compared with just 25 per cent in the group that received psychotherapy alone. [continues 146 words]
Scientists engineer mice to resist cocaine's habit-forming qualities Scientists at the University of B.C. have built a better mouse - one that is indifferent to cocaine. Unlike normal mice, the genetically engineered rodents did not show addictive behaviour even after repeated injections of the narcotic over days, suggesting habitual drug use in humans may be a matter of genetics. While the finding is unlikely to yield a pill that cures addiction any time soon, it could lead to a test that identifies who is at greatest risk of addiction and enable people to act on that knowledge, said Shernaz Bamji, the lead author of a study published Tuesday by the journal Nature Neuroscience. [continues 316 words]
Hand-Held Device Can Pinpoint THC Levels Within Seconds Engineers developing a breath-based ketone sampler for diabetics have switched gears to produce a hand-held marijuana breath analyzer just as the federal government begins to explore legalization. The device-about the size of two fingers - is a Bluetooth-enabled breathalyzer that uses microfluidic technology and a selective gas sensor to detect tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. The THC levels in a sample can be analyzed within seconds and the results delivered to a smartphone. [continues 494 words]
VANCOUVER - Marijuana use is down among teenagers but bullying is up, according to the results of the latest survey of nearly 30,000 children in 377 schools across the country, released by the World Health Organization and the Public Health Agency of Canada. The 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey is conducted in 44 countries every four years to take a snapshot of the mental and physical health of children aged 11 to 15 in grades 6 through 10. It was first administered in 1990. [continues 418 words]
Health Survey Reveals Details of Children's Physical, Mental Health The World Health Organization and the Public Health Agency of Canada have released the results of the latest survey of nearly 30,000 children in 377 schools across Canada, first administered in 1990. The 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey is conducted in 44 countries every four years to take a snapshot of the mental and physical health of children aged 11 to 15 in Grades 6 through 10. [continues 512 words]
Doctor blames increasingly easy access to alcohol, which accounts for 10 times more medical costs than all other drugs combined Hospital visits attributed to alcohol and drug abuse increased by 63 per cent in the Greater Vancouver area over just four years ending in 2013, and visits to St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver for substance abuse increased by a whopping 89 per cent over the same period, according to emergency room data. And despite dire headlines about opioid addiction and IV drug use, alcohol is driving most of the increase. [continues 807 words]
Addicts given the traditional maintenance drug were more likely to relapse and for longer, and cost the health, justice systems more Using heroin to treat relapsed heroin users is more cost-effective than traditional methadone maintenance, according to a new study based on North America's only clinical trial of medically prescribed heroin. A mathematical analysis using data from the North American Opiate Medication Initiative ( NAOMI) found that addicts prescribed heroin were less likely to relapse than those taking methadone and spent less time in relapse, which reduced their lifetime costs for health care and criminal justice and extended their lives. [continues 588 words]
The explosion in popularity of the street drug ecstasy came with the rise of the rave culture during the 1980s, a time when pharmaceutical- grade MDMA was widely available. But ecstasy tablets or capsules analyzed by law enforcement agencies routinely contain cheaper alternatives such as amphetamine, methamphetamine and a drug closely related to MDMA, parame- thoxymethamphetamine, or PMMA. At least five British Columbians have died from PMMA overdoses since August, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. It is almost certainly not the drug they thought they were buying. [continues 415 words]
Region Has One of Canada's Heaviest Concentrations Of Medical-Marijuana Licences Sechelt's 420 Hemp Shop is nestled in the heart of the Sunshine Coast, an area that has been the vanguard for medical marijuana cultivation. "I've handed out hundreds of applications [for medical marijuana-growing licences] to people myself," said store owner Danny Ownsett. "Local doctors send their patients to me." The area - which includes the Sunshine Coast, the southern Gulf Islands, Sea to Sky Country and north Vancouver Island - had the highest concentration of medical-marijuana-growing licences in Canada in 2007. [continues 650 words]
Longtime Supplier to Pot Growers Reinvents Itself to Satisfy Demand for Legal Herbs VANCOUVER - One of B.C.'s most successful hydroponic suppliers is transitioning from building marijuana-growing equipment to servicing aficionados of an entirely different class of herbs, mainly basil and microgreens. BC Northern Lights has built and sold more than 8,000 hydroponic growing systems over its 10 years in business, products targeted to the marijuana home grower, according to junior partner Myles Omand. The new spinoff, Urban Cultivator, is targeting professional kitchens and well-moneyed consumers who want the best and the freshest herbs and greens possible. [continues 514 words]
Hallucinogenic plant legal in Canada; 15 U.S. states have banned it The drug Salvia divinorum, made famous in the viral You-Tube video in which pop star Miley Cyrus smokes a bong, has been sold quietly for at least the past 10 years in Vancouver. Fox News and other agencies are reporting that sales of the drug have tripled in some U.S. states, such as California, where people are specifically asking for "the stuff Miley was smoking." But Vancouver Seed Bank owner Rebecca Ambrose says Salvia has long had a following of perhaps a few hundred people locally. [continues 272 words]
Online video of Miley Cyrus smoking the plant in a bong has peaked interest in the legal psychoactive, which is sold locally Health Canada is warning people to avoid using the Mexican herb Salvia divinorum until its effects are better understood. Native to Oaxaca, Mexico, the plant known as Magic Mint or Seer's Sage has been used for centuries by Mazatec Indian shamans for medicinal purposes and to induce visions, but also has gained a foothold in Canada and United States as a recreational drug. [continues 771 words]
Rules Forbid Using Free Postage To Send Out Campaign Material Flyers sent out by the federal Conservative party last week violate rules that forbid members of Parliament from using their free postage privileges to send out campaign material, opposition MPs say. People in east Vancouver, Richmond, Port Alberni and across the country were blitzed last week with pamphlets touting the Tories' tough-on-crime approach to illegal drugs. According to rules distributed to every MP by the office of the Speaker of the House, such flyers may not contain "provincial, municipal or local election campaign material." Nor can the flyers request "re-election support." [continues 511 words]
Lorne Mayencourt Hopes To Have 100 Recovering Addicts In Treatment By The End Of Next Year PRINCE GEORGE - MLA Lorne Mayencourt has quietly opened a rural drug treatment facility near Prince George. New Hope already has five clients living on a decommissioned U.S. military base about a 10-hour drive from Vancouver. It is not due to open officially until mid-January. Mayencourt hopes to have 100 clients living in refurbished Cold War-era buildings by the end of next year. [continues 752 words]
Outreach Workers Know The Street, Know The Street People, And Are Pure Gold Out There Myles and Wenky have been walking the alleys around Main and Hastings for a couple of hours, saying hello to everyone they meet. They collect a lot of hugs along the way. Smiles and jokes, too. "Do you need any supplies?" Myles Williams asks a couple in a doorway. "Rigs? How many? Is 10 all right?" The woman clad in a pink ski jacket is sitting on cardboard to cut the creeping cold that seeps up from the concrete steps. She leans forward and puts two used syringes in the sharps collection box that the pair of Carnegie outreach workers drag along with them on their rounds. [continues 1449 words]
Pilot Project Combines Officers From Several Units to Launch Massive Attacks RIDGE MEADOWS I The RCMP detachment has combined its property crime, community policing and drug units to employ a massive attack strategy intended to stamp out crime almost before it starts. The new combined unit employs crime analyst Annette Wilson to help predict crime trends and focus the unit's activities. New computer software allows Wilson to combine crime reports, offender data and intelligence gathered by officers and spot the leading edge of a rise in crimes such as car theft, predict where the offences will happen and point police to the likely bad guys. The unit can then marshal all its resources to eradicate the problem. [continues 697 words]
