“Good Samaritan” laws aim to protect people who witness, act on or experience a substance-use-related overdose from being arrested or criminally charged. This type of legislation has been implemented across Canada and the United States as a response to the increase in fatal drug poisonings, but it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
At PASAN, we serve people with lived and living experience of incarceration and drug use. Many of our clients have been diagnosed with hepatitis C during their intake at a correctional institution. M
People who are incarcerated (PWAI) are identified as a priority population for hepatitis C care, as they are 40 times more likely to be exposed to the virus than Canada’s general population.
For a few years now, our team at Clinique médicale l’Actuel has noticed an increase in patients using crystal meth. At the start of the pandemic, to address our patients’ distress and increased substance use, we secured private funding to set up a support program for our patients who use crystal meth and practise chemsex, also called PnP or party ‘n play. We also convinced the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services to carry out a pilot project with this population at the clinic.
Cassandra Smith is Black CAP’s harm reduction specialist. CATIE recently spoke with Cassandra about how her lived experiences as a community member and parent have informed her harm reduction work, and how harm reduction programs and services can meet the needs of racialized parents who use substances.
For many years, CATIE has promoted the importance of harm reduction as a strategy to prevent HIV and hepatitis C among people who use drugs. Through our work, we have developed strong partnerships with harm reduction service providers, educators and advocates. More recently, we have responded to the needs of our partners by expanding the scope of our harm reduction information and education work to cover harm reduction and the health and rights of people who use drugs more broadly.
