After many years of success, EvidenceNetwork.ca is no longer in operation. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the organization over the past decade including our dedicated researchers, newspaper editors, readers and funders. However, now it is time to move onto new ways of looking at knowledge mobilization and policy. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shannon Sampert at s.sampert@uwinnipeg.ca.

Winnipeg will soon open a ‘wet shelter’

Tailoring a program to tackle homelessness and alcoholism saves lives   Maybe it’s time we woke up and realized that how we’ve been dealing with a certain segment of homeless people in this city just isn’t working. You probably know the ones I mean: you pass by them if you walk downtown on your way […]

Homelessness costs Canadians big money without addressing the causes

It’s time we put Housing First   For most of his life, Murray Barr was an ordinary American until everything changed abruptly when his story of personal tragedy and period of homelessness created a media frenzy.  It was in his article, “Million Dollar Murray,” that Malcolm Gladwell turned homelessness into a celebrity cause by illustrating […]

The opioid crisis is a population health issue

Canada has had 2458 opioid related deaths in the past year   According to the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), the rate of opioid poisoning  hospitalizations has been steadily on the rise with approximately 13 Canadians a day hospitalized for an opioid overdose in 2014-2015. What began with the over-prescription of opioids such as […]

Rising rates of long-term prescription-opioid use highlight urgent need for treatment options for chronic pain and addiction

Across Canada, the tragic spike in opioid-related deaths has brought to national attention the large and complex issue of drug use and misuse.

Understanding the opioids crisis in Canada

North America is grappling with an opioids epidemic. British Columbia has even declared a public health emergency because of a significant increase in opioid-related overdoses and deaths. Dr. David Juurlink, Head of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto, and Tara Gomes, Epidemiologist and Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital and […]

Regarder en face certaines vérités désagréables sur les opioïdes

Au cours de la dernière année, je ne compte plus les fois où l’épidémie d’opioïdes, sous une forme ou une autre (Prince, naloxone, fentanyl, nouveau-nés souffrant du syndrome de sevrage, et j’en passe) s’est retrouvée à la une des journaux.

Facing some unpleasant truths about opioids

Over the past year I’ve lost track of how many times the opioid epidemic has, in one incarnation or another (Prince, naloxone, fentanyl, newborns in agonizing withdrawal and so on) found its way onto the front page news.

Canada slow to respond to prescription opioid crisis

In my first career as a pharmacist, I worked in more than 30 pharmacies across Nova Scotia, filling more than 100,000 prescriptions between 1990 and 1995. Some of these were for strong painkillers called opioids — drugs like morphine and oxycodone, which are chemically and biologically very similar to heroin.

Backgrounder: Canada’s prescription opioid crisis

“The misuse of opioids has grown exponentially with devastating consequences” – First Do No Harm: Responding to Canada’s Prescription Drug Crisis (Canadian Council on Substance Abuse, 2013).

Backgrounder: Mental illness and addictions in Canada

Mental illness and addictions take a toll that can be measured in human costs, healthcare costs and costs to society. Approximately one in five Canadians experience a mental illness or addiction each year and 50% will experience one in their lifetime.