Doug Johnson

Vancouver’s Advancing Drug Decriminalization Plan Sparks Controversies

People who use drugs weren’t given a voice in Vancouver’s most recent step towards decriminalization, according to a coalition of…

May 11, 2021

Legalizing Opioids: Three Proposed Models for Non-Medical Use

A rarity among academic papers, a new piece of research proposes models for legalizing opioids for non-medical use. A glut of…

April 19, 2021

Why New 12-Step Members May Avoid Carrying Naloxone

For new members of 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, naloxone can still seem like a symbol of…

April 6, 2021

The Last Days of Heroin: Fentanyl’s Rise and the Pattern It Represents

Five years ago, British Columbia saw a change. People who use drugs in the Canadian province started overdosing in higher…

February 18, 2021

The “Secret Handshake”—A Program Gifting Cannabis to Unhoused People

For some people in Los Angeles’ homeless community, a dime bag of weed can make a small but welcome difference.…

February 1, 2021

Pandemic Hits Harm Reduction Workers Hard—Particularly “Peers”

A few weeks back, Soma Snakeoil, an artist and the founder of Los Angeles-based organization the Sidewalk Project, came across…

January 14, 2021

Alberta Government Rejects Safe Supply, Bets Heavily on Abstinence

As an experienced harm reduction nurse in Alberta, Corey Ranger has been on the front lines of the overdose crisis.…

October 26, 2020

The Importance of Drug Researchers Being Able to Disclose Their Own Use

Should drug researchers be open about their own drug use? This topic of research was decades in the making for…

September 29, 2020