National numbers don’t tell the whole story: Nova Scotia’s overdose deaths are rising

 July 16, 2026 •  By Matthew Bonn

In 2024, the number of opioid-related deaths in Canada dropped by 17% compared with the previous year. Some factors contributing to the decline include changes in the unregulated toxic drug supply, naloxone availability and a decrease in the size of the population at risk of overdose. However, it’s crucial to recognize that although this national figure is encouraging, too many lives are still being lost. The number of opioid-related deaths remains extremely high compared with the period before synthetic opioids became widespread in the drug supply. These synthetic opioids include fentanyl and nitazenes, which are often mixed with synthetic benzodiazepines....

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What does it take to eliminate hepatitis C in a city like Montreal?

 May 25, 2026 •  By James O’Grady and Isabelle Robichaud

What would it take for Montreal to eliminate hepatitis C? The short answer: sustained, collective effort. The reality is that hepatitis C is both preventable and curable, but it continues to affect communities across Montreal. These communities are often those facing the greatest barriers to care. While hepatitis C treatment can be simple, eliminating the virus at a population level is a challenge. It tests how effective health systems can work across sectors and reach those often left behind by traditional systems of care. The Métropoles sans Hépatite C (MSHC) project was created with an ambitious goal: to make Montreal the first city in North...

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Scaling back harm reduction will scale up blood-borne infections

 May 25, 2026 •  By Rivka Kushner

Following nearly a decade of leadership in responding to the toxic drug crisis, harm reduction programs in some parts of Canada are now being scaled back. In some communities, programs like supervised consumption services and safer drug use equipment distribution are being defunded, restricted or forced to close. This is despite strong evidence that supervised consumption services prevent overdose deaths, increase safer substance use practices, increase access to healthcare including treatment and mental health services and reduce public drug use. Safer drug use distribution programs, often referred to as needle and syringe programs, prevent viral infections like hepatitis C and...

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Behind the science: Understanding Canada’s new hepatitis B guidelines

 May 25, 2026 •  By Dr. Hin Hin Ko and Madison Kennedy

Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. Without proper care, hepatitis B can lead to serious health problems like liver failure, liver cancer and early death. In 2025, the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL) and the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada (AMMI) released new guidelines for the management of chronic hepatitis B. Madison Kennedy, CATIE’s knowledge specialist in hepatitis, spoke with Dr. Hin Hin Ko, Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of British Columbia and member of the chronic hepatitis B guideline committee, to understand how these guidelines...

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Understanding the realities of PnP with the Chemstory/Chemstories podcast

 April 1, 2026 •  By Patrice St-Amour

PnP (for “party ’n play,” also called chemsex) is defined as the intentional use of psychoactive substances, such as methamphetamine, GHB or ketamine, in a sexual context. Because of the strong stigma surrounding the practice, people still too often experience this in silence, shame and isolation. It’s precisely to address this issue that researcher and professor Olivier Ferlatte, director of Qollab, a research laboratory located at the University of Montreal’s School of Public Health (ESPUM), designed and conceived the Chemstory/Chemstories research-action project. The project aims to hand the mic to the people directly concerned, meaning gay, bisexual and queer men, both...

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From safety to belonging: The essential elements of gender-responsive harm reduction

 March 2, 2026 •  By Phoenix Babiak, Katherine Rudzinski, Lindsay Windhager, Charlotte Smith and Carol Strike

As the toxic drug crisis continues to devastate communities across Canada, available supports are dwindling. In Ontario, many supervised injection services (SIS) have been shuttered by regressive and dangerous government policies. This attack on evidence-based care limits opportunities to expand and diversify harm reduction services, which is especially harmful to women, trans and non-binary people who use drugs (WTNB-PWUD) as their gender-specific needs are already often overlooked in harm reduction services. Only a small number of SIS have provided dedicated spaces for WTNB-PWUD. Looking more closely at the lessons learned from these effective models can help inform where the harm...

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