PI: Jorge Flores-Aranda (Université de Québec à Montréal, QC)

Leadership Group: Carole Morissette & Pascale Leclerc (Santé publique de Montréal, QC); Dan Werb (St. Michael’s Hospital, ON); Em Pijl (University of Lethbridge, AB); Jean-Sébastien Fallu (Université de Montréal, QC); Karen McCrae, Jamie Arredondo, Jennifer Matthews & Lianping Ti (BCCSU, BC); Nazlee Maghsoudi (Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, ON); Shelby Young (Indigo Harm Reduction Services, AB); Bryce Koch (Project Safe Audience, MB); Julie-Soleil Meeson (L’Association des intervenants en dépendance du Québec, QC)

Objectives

The purpose of this project is to facilitate the implementation and delivery of drug checking programs.

Project Components

Drug Checking Services in Canada: A Review of Existing and Developing Services

Drug checking services already or soon to be implemented in Canada will be documented and described in order to describe the development of Canadian drug checking services, present a variety of service models, and evaluate changes in the landscape over time. Objectives include:

  • Identify all drug checking services currently available and in-development to provide a comprehensive picture of the situation in Canada, identify gaps in implementing drug checking services across Canada, develop a baseline report for public dissemination, develop a web platform and forum to facilitate the exchange and dissemination of information (such as results from this project’s activities) between service providers involved in this activity

The Implementation of Drug Checking Services for People Who Use Drugs: A Systematic Review

The systematic review provides critical information to audiences engaged in research, practice, and policy. Results:

  1. The Implementation of Drug Checking Services for People Who Use Drugs: A Systematic Review (submitted to Addiction) –  In light of requests to make the systematic review available as a preprint, it is also published on Qeios
  2. Oral presentation at CAHR 2021
  3. Oral presentation accepted at  14th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP), which has now been postponed to November 17-19, 2021 in Mexico

Practical guide and interactive training on harm reduction and messaging in harm reduction

Project activity includes:

  • The creation of a Drug Checking manual based on best practices using a harm reduction approach in both English and French,
  • Interactive training sessions, and
  • Knowledge translation (videos, website creation, and exchange with drug checking service providers for up-to-date information exchange)
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