Evaluation Of Innovative Risk Mitigation Services In The Context Of Dual Crises Of COVID-19 And Overdose Among People Who Use Opioids In Vancouver, BC

Through funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) and MSFHR, Principal Investigators Dr. Kanna Hayashi, Research Scientist at the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) and St. Paul's Hospital Chair in Substance Use Research and Assistant professor in the Faculty of Health Science at Simon Fraser University (SFU) along with Dr. Kora DeBeck, Research Scientist at the BCCSU and Associate Professor in the SFU School of Public Policy aim to conduct preliminary evaluation of two novel measures introduced by the BC government in March 2020 to address the dual crisis of overdose and COVID-19. Specifically, these measures include expanding the opioid agonist treatment (OAT) prescription guidelines and pandemic prescribing of pharmaceuticals (e.g. opioids) to people who use illicit drugs. By providing pharmaceutical alternatives to the toxic illicit drug supply, the interventions are intended to reduce physical encounters involved in obtaining illicit drugs and the use of toxic street drugs, thereby supporting both overdose and COVID-19 prevention efforts. To date, however, the impacts of these interventions have not been evaluated. The proposed BC-based research aims to fill critical knowledge gaps by examining the reach and preliminary impacts of pandemic prescribing and expanded OAT prescription services among people who use opioids in urban Vancouver. Through this work, the research team, which consists of highly productive investigators and knowledge users with direct clinical and policy expertise, seeks to inform efforts to improve the delivery and effectiveness of the interventions.