Building capacity to reduce overdose among formerly incarcerated people in British Columbia

BC is facing dual public health emergencies of COVID-19 and a public health emergency of overdose, first declared in 2016. New interventions have been introduced to reduce overdose in BC, including efforts to decriminalize drug possession and the introduction of pharmaceutical alternatives to the toxic drug supply, known as “Risk Mitigation Guidance” (RMG) prescribing. RMG allows physicians to prescribe pharmaceutical medications (e.g. opioids, stimulants) to people at risk of overdose. While provincial evaluations of pharmaceutical alternatives are ongoing, little is known about the impact of these interventions on people who have been incarcerated, who face a disproportionate burden of overdose risk and mortality in BC, particularly in the weeks immediately following release from correctional institutions.

We aim to address this knowledge gap by convening a Peer Advisory Group of people with lived and living experience of substance use and incarceration. The group will advise on how data sources created in response to the 2016 public health emergency (BC-ODC) can be used to investigate interventions to reduce overdose, with attention to the unique and context-specific overdose risks faced by people who have been incarcerated.

Team members: Ana Becerra (BC Centre for Disease Control); Helen Brown (UBC); Jane Buxton (BC Centre for Disease Control); Ruth Elwood Martin (UBC); Kurt Lock (BC Centre for Disease Control); Tonia Nicholls (UBC); Erin Wilson (University of Northern British Columbia); Chloe Xavier (BC Centre for Disease Control); Sofia Bartlett (BC Centre for Disease Control); Cameron Geddes (UBC); Heather Palis (BC Centre for Disease Control); Marnie Scow (UBC); Chas Coutlee (Indian Residential School Survivors Society); Nicholas Crier (UBC’s Transformative Health and Justice Cluster); Jade Hoffman (Prince George Urban Aboriginal Justice Society); Patrick Keating (UBC’s Transformative Health and Justice Cluster ); Jenny McDougall (BC Centre for Disease Control); Rick Meier (Coalition of Substance Users of the North); Elder Roberta Price (UBC’s Transformative Health and Justice Cluster); Glenn Young (Unlocking the Gates Services Society); Pam Young (Unlocking the Gates Services Society); Andrew Ivsins (Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions); Carrie McCully (BC Corrections); Angus Monaghan (BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services); Justine Patterson (BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services); Kathryn Proudfoot (BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services); Vijay Seethpathy (BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services)