Matthew Bonn

Matthew is an International Board member with International Network of Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users, and a knowledge translator for the Dr. Peters Centre. He was previously the program manager with the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs. His freelance writing has appeared in publications including The Conversation, CATIE, Doctors Nova Scotia, Policy Options and The Coast. Matthew was also on the 64th Canadian delegation to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. He is a current drug user and a formerly incarcerated person.

Atlantic Canada’s New Hospital Services for People Who Use Drugs

There are all kinds of reasons a person who uses drugs might need to go to the emergency room. These…

March 26, 2024

“Another Dimension”—OD Deaths Fall Sharply in Areas Close to SCS

Safe consumption sites don’t just protect people from fatal overdose within their walls, suggests recent research. The study, published in…

February 29, 2024

My Benzo Withdrawals Induced Delirium, I’ve Come to Understand

I’ve always enjoyed using benzodiazepines. These depressants—the best known are pharmaceutical brands like Xanax, Valium and Ativan—produce a distinct type…

February 21, 2024

Fentanyl Patches Are Saving My Life. We Need to Make Them Accessible.

True safe supply means a legal and regulated supply of the same drugs people access through the unregulated market. In Canada,…

June 1, 2023

Why Does BC’s Decriminalization Exclude Benzodiazepines?

The overdose crisis in British Columbia has killed more than 10,000 people since 2016, when it was first declared a…

January 26, 2023

Benzo Withdrawal Terrifies Me. “Treatment” Keeps Requiring It.

As a teenager I was always anxious, to the point I never felt comfortable in my own skin. But that…

October 17, 2022

My Overdose on “Benzo Dope” Was Part of a Current Wave

It’s hard to write a story about events of which you have almost no recollection. But as the days pass,…

June 22, 2022

How Buying My Drugs Online Has Been Working for Me

Over the last year or so, I have been purchasing most of my supply of drugs—including fentanyl, cocaine, Xanax, MDMA…

March 2, 2022

How Halifax’s Safe Supply Hotels Brought Hope in the Early Pandemic

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2020, there was a confirmed case at a pop-up shelter in Halifax, Nova…

February 9, 2022

Fentanyl Batches I Have Known in Atlantic Canada

Atlantic Canada often seems to get left out of discussions of our country’s ongoing drug-poisoning crisis. Yet recorded overdose deaths…

October 12, 2021