Characteristics and experiences of parents accessing a prescribed safer supply of drugs in British Columbia during the dual public health emergency in 2020-2022: a mixed-methods study.

In 2020 British Columbia (BC) entered the fourth year of its ongoing overdose emergency. The overdose emergency collided with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted in a dual public health crisis. To support people who use drugs who were at risk of both COVID-19 and overdose, BC released the Risk Mitigation Guidance (RMG). The Guidance outlined the prescription of pharmaceutical alternatives to replace or supplement an illicit drug to help mitigate the compounding risks of COVID-19, overdose, and other drug-related harms. This measure represents a form of "prescribed safer supply". During this time people with lived and living experience of substance use worked in partnership with researchers to create a project that would evaluate the impact of the Guidance across the province. Beginning in October 2020 through to March 2022, 352 people who use drugs and had tried to or were successful in accessing an RMG prescription completed surveys about their experience. Further, a smaller group of 55 individuals were also invited to complete an in-depth interview about their experience accessing prescriptions. This mixed methods study will explore the characteristics and experiences of parents with children under 19 years old (n=111) who tried to access a pharmaceutical alternative to illicit drugs. It will focus on exploring the regional and gender differences in experiences of barriers and facilitators to accessing a prescription, and the impacts on health and substance use. While there is emerging evidence of the impacts of the RMG on the broader population of people who use drugs, little is known to date about the unique challenges and barriers to care that parents faced when attempting to access a prescribed safer supply during this time.