Grant: Operating Grant - HIV/AIDS CBR Program - General

The increasing incidence of non-fatal overdose events and overdose-related deaths is emerging as a significant public health concern in Canada. One known contributor to the rising rates of both fatal and non-fatal overdose is the issue of unknown drug quality and/or contents. In Ottawa, the number of calls in 2016 to paramedics to attend to non-fatal overdose events has more than doubled since 2012. Additionally, current methods of issuing drug alerts have proven inadequate, as they are often delivered after adverse events have already occurred, rendering them less effective as an overdose prevention strategy. Furthermore, the high prevalence of HIV and HCV in this community, combined with high reported rates of drug-use equipment-sharing suggests increased rates of HIV and HCV acquisition and transmission could occur if no intervention takes place. This project will involve implementing a drug analysis service (in partnership with Carleton University) at Oasis, a harm reduction program located in the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. Clients will be able to anonymously drop off samples of drugs for analysis, allowing for timely surveillance and reports regarding drug quality to be issued to the community. In this way, we aim to proactively make people who use drugs (PWUD) aware of adulterated substances before adverse events occur. We anticipate that this service will act as an alternate gateway for clients to be connected with other HIV prevention and harm reduction services that they may not otherwise have accessed, potentially reducing the incidence of HIV and HCV among PWUD in Ottawa, while simultaneously extending and improving the quality of life of PWUD already living with HIV.