heroin

In 2021, the Vancouver-based Drug User Liberation Front approached Health Canada with a proposal.

Federal Addictions Minister Ya'ara Saks says she had "deep concerns" about the lack of limits Toronto put on its now-rejected pitch to decriminalize the possession of illegal drugs — and the city health agency's refusal to make any changes.

Advocates for drug users are raising concerns about British Columbia's request for Health Canada to empower police to step in when they see illicit drug use in public spaces, saying it may be a step backward in the fight against the deadly opioid crisis.

Health Canada has called the opioid crisis one of the most serious public health threats in recent history, and an addictions specialist says everyone can play a part in helping reduce the death toll. All it takes is access to naloxone, a life-saving medication that temporarily reverses an opioid overdose.

Decriminalization of people with small amounts of illegal drugs for their own use has become a reality in British Columbia, but substance users and researchers say the change is expected to make little immediate difference because of a toxic drug supply.

Some Canadian cities and provinces are trying to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs in their jurisdictions as thousands of people die of overdoses each year.

British Columbia is applying to the federal government to remove criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of illicit drugs in an effort to help more people get care in a health crisis that has claimed 7,700 lives over five years.

Canada's public health agency says the COVID-19 pandemic drove an increasingly deadly overdose crisis last year that continues to take lives and corrode communities.

A British Columbia coroner's inquest jury recommends improvements in provincial substance abuse treatment, detection and prevention services for young people following an inquest into the overdose of a Victoria-area teen.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says the federal government needs to "hold China accountable" for the illicit fentanyl that has fuelled Canada's opioid crisis.

Criminals are using the darker corners of the internet, hard-to-track digital currency and creative shipping techniques to sell illicit guns to Canadians, the RCMP warns.

The 2015 book Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, is a New York Times bestseller. It's also a scathing account of the trillion dollar, global drug war's many policy failures. The book’s author, Scottish-born journalist Johann Hari, has traveled to over 18 countries to investigate drug criminalization.

The RCMP has launched at least 20 investigations involving dozens of vendors shipping fentanyl from China as Canada grapples with a record number of illicit opioid deaths.

Drug users trying to quit heroin are gathered for a meeting in Vancouver with one mission in mind: to support each other through the struggles of a reformulated treatment drug.

Here's some good news for Canadian pot smokers: high taxes will not join the munchies, the pasties and short-term memory loss as unwelcome side effects of smoking up.