Publications

The CDPE adheres to the highest standards of peer-reviewed scientific research. To request a copy of any publication that is not open access, please email info@cdpe.org.

Requiring help injecting among people who inject drugs in Toronto, Canada: Characterising the need to address sociodemographic disparities and substance-use specific patterns

as part of T-DOT (Toronto Disparities, Overdose and Treatment)

Those requiring help injecting are at an elevated risk of injection-related injury and blood-borne infections and are thus a priority group for harm reduction programs. As supervised consumption services (SCS) are scaled-up across Canada, information on those who require help injecting is necessary to inform equitable service uptake. We characterised the sociodemographic, structural and drug use correlates of needing help injecting among a cohort of people who inject drugs in Toronto, Canada.
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Validation of Self-reported Opioid Agonist Treatment Among People Who Inject Drugs Using Prescription Dispensation Records

as part of T-DOT (Toronto Disparities, Overdose and Treatment)

Studies of people who inject drugs (PWID) commonly use questionnaires to determine whether participants are currently, or have recently been, on opioid agonist treatment for opioid use disorder. However, these previously unvalidated self-reported treatment measures may be susceptible to inaccurate reporting.
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Drug checking use and interest among people who inject drugs in Toronto, Canada

as part of Piloting and Evaluating Drug Checking Services in Toronto, Ontario

Drug checking services (DCS) provide information on drug composition to inform consumption practices and monitor unregulated drug markets. We sought to identify correlates of recent informal DCS use (e.g., fentanyl test strips) and willingness to use a formal DCS (co-located within a supervised consumption site and employing laboratory-based analyses) in Toronto, Canada prior to its implementation.
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Requiring help injecting among people who inject drugs in Toronto, Canada: Characterising the need to address sociodemographic disparities and substance-use specific patterns

as part of Preventing Injecting by Modifying Existing Responses (PRIMER)

As supervised consumption services (SCS) are scaled-up across Canada, information on those who require help injecting is necessary to inform equitable service uptake. We characterised the sociodemographic, structural and drug use correlates of needing help injecting among a cohort of people who inject drugs in Toronto, Canada.
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Emerging synthetic cannabinoids detected by a drug checking service in Toronto, Canada

as part of Piloting and Evaluating Drug Checking Services in Toronto, Ontario

This article reports on new synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) detected in drug samples submitted to Toronto’s Drug Checking Service (DCS) in Toronto, Canada, in the period following restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, during which global drug trafficking patterns are believed to have been affected.
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Evaluating interventions to facilitate opioid agonist treatment access among people who inject drugs in Toronto, Ontario during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions

as part of T-DOT (Toronto Disparities, Overdose and Treatment)

In March 2020, following a provincial COVID-19 emergency declaration, modifications to opioid agonist treatment (OAT) were introduced in Ontario, Canada to promote treatment access amid the pandemic and ongoing opioid overdose crisis. Our objectives were to evaluate the effects of these modifications on OAT enrollment and on receipt of take-home doses and the frequency of urine drug screening among OAT-enrolled participants, as well as to investigate concurrent pre- and post-implementation trends in opioid-related overdoses and all-cause mortality.
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Diverse psychotropic substances detected in drug and drug administration equipment samples submitted to drug checking services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 2019–April 2020

as part of Piloting and Evaluating Drug Checking Services in Toronto, Ontario

This report presents early trends of samples analyzed within the first six months of drug checking service implementation in Toronto, Ontario. We sought to identify the prevalence of high-potency opioids in the unregulated drug supply and to identify noteworthy combinations thereof with stimulants, benzodiazepine-type drugs, and synthetic cannabinoids. We also present data on reported negative effects of samples (e.g., overdose).
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