Click on the links below to view the latest news stories from leading media outlets highlighting ODPRN research and scientists.
Public invited to comment on Cambridge supervised drug consumption site
A November report for the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network examined coroners’ reports on overdose deaths. It found that the percentage of deaths in Waterloo Region involving smoking was almost twice as high as the number where drugs were injected. Smoking overdose deaths amounted to about 61 per cent, compared to 50 per cent provincially.
February 21, 2023 | The Record | News Article | Associated Research
To save Lowertown, Ottawa council must change its approach
A report by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network did find that among people who died of opioid toxicity, one-third of them worked in the construction industry.
February 16, 2023 | Ottawa Citizen | News Article | Associated Research
Health Canada reviewing safety of controversial breastfeeding drug
This makes it challenging for regulators like Health Canada to evaluate the safety of a drug for an off-label purpose, said Mina Tadrous, an assistant professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto who specializes in drug safety.
January 30, 2023 | CBC News | News Article
Explainer: Pharmacists address questions over new prescribing powers in Ontario
“Although there are a few voices that are raising these flags, generally most physicians welcome this,” said Mina Tadrous, an assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Toronto who specializes in drug policy and has been monitoring the reaction.
January 21, 2023 | Toronto Star | News Article
Recent overdose deaths in Simcoe-Muskoka part of an ‘ongoing trend,’ experts say
Dr. Tara Gomes, the lead principal investigator of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network housed at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital, says the Simcoe-Muskoka data mirrors what’s happening across the country.
January 17, 2023 | CBC News | News Article
This First Nation elder created a healing centre in her backyard
Another report, released in November by the Chiefs of Ontario and the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, found the illicit overdose death rate for Indigenous people doubled during the first year of the pandemic.
January 14, 2023 | The Globe and Mail | News Article | Associated Research
Street drugs in Canada are becoming more toxic — and tools to treat them less effective. Why?
Tara Gomes, a scientist at Unity Health Toronto and director of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, says the increasing unpredictability in the drug supply in Canada poses challenges for community-based programs that help people who use drugs, as they are not set up to handle the longer-term care that may be required to aid someone overdosing from opioids mixed with benzos.
January 12, 2023 | Global News | News Article
Cold and flu medication shortage across Canada is a ‘wake-up call,’ pharmacists say
There haven’t been any identified issues on the manufacturing end that would account for these shortages, said Mina Tadrous, an assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Toronto who specializes in drug policy and surveillance of medications.
January 7, 2023 | Toronto Star | News Article
Changing nature of Canada’s overdose crisis calls for more aggressive response, experts say
Gomes and some of her colleagues released a report this past November that found a similar trend in Ontario. Between January 2018 and June 2021, half of the opioid toxicity deaths in the province were linked to smoking or inhalation.
January 3, 2023 | CBC News | News Article | Associated Research
The overdose crisis: ‘One death is enough’
A November report from the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network examined coroners’ reports on overdose deaths. It found that the percent of deaths in Waterloo Region involving smoking was almost twice as high as the number where drugs were injected.
December 29, 2022 | Toronto Star | News Article | Associated Research
Is safe supply for opioid use effective? Here’s what the experts, data say
Another independent study published in September in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) found safe opioid supply programs can significantly cut down on emergency department visits and hospitalizations for people at high risk for overdose.
December 10, 2022 | Global News | News Article | Associated Research
Move to generic methadone raises concerns
“It’s a way for them to manage their budgets as best they can,” says Tara Gomes, scientist at Unity Health and lead of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network. Gomes says that in the case of Methadose, the province has recently decided to list both the brand name and the new generic at the same price.
September 27, 2022 | Healthy Debate | News Article
‘This program’s really saved us’: As Canada offers safer opioids to curb overdoses, will U.S. follow?
A study published Monday found that participants in a safer supply program in London, Ontario had fewer ER visits and hospital admissions after joining the program.
September 21, 2022 | STAT News | News Article | Associated Research
Safer opioid supply program leads to drop in Ontario hospitalizations, ER visits: study
Safe opioid supply programs can significantly cut down on emergency department visits and hospitalizations for people at high risk for overdose, new research from Ontario suggests.
September 19, 2022 | Global News | News Article | Associated Research
Despite rising OD deaths linked to smoking drugs, no supervised inhalation services exist in Ontario
Gomes’s May 2021 report, Changing Circumstances Surrounding Opioid-Related Deaths in Ontario during the COVID-19 Pandemic, pointed to a “significant shift away from opioid-related deaths with evidence of injection only … towards deaths with evidence of a pipe/foil for inhalation at the scene.”
August 12, 2022 | CP24 | News Article | Associated Research
Ontario construction workers accounted for 1 in 13 opioid deaths in recent years, report finds
Construction workers have been disproportionately affected by the worsening opioid crisis, accounting for about one in 13 opioid-related deaths in Ontario between 2017 and 2020, according to a new report published Thursday.
July 28, 2022 | The Globe and Mail | News Article | Associated Research
Where the parties stand: On the opioid crisis
Ontario’s opioid crisis is “not abating — it’s continuing to grow,” says Gomes, who is also the principal investigator at the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network. “This is just such an enormous public-health issue, and we’re losing so many lives to these accidental overdoses that are really avoidable if we could put the appropriate supports and systems in place for people.”
May 5, 2022 | TVO | News Article | Associated Research
Product label changes do not prevent accidental acetaminophen overdoses: Study
“We found that changes to acetaminophen labels that communicated the risks of overdose and the presence of acetaminophen in over-the-counter products did not affect rates of hospital admission for accidental acetaminophen overdose, ICU admission for accidental acetaminophen overdose and admission for acetaminophen overdoses involving opioids,” writes Dr. Tony Antoniou, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, with coauthors.
April 19, 2022 | The Print | News Article | Associated Research
Antibiotic use varies across Canada’s provinces
“Reducing the overuse of antibiotics, with the specific concern of antimicrobial resistance growing, has been a goal globally,” said Tadrous. “That’s why it’s important to continue to drive down the gap between what’s appropriate use and what’s not.”
April 12, 2022 | Medscape | News Article | Associated Research
Opioid crisis: More access to take-home treatments didn’t raise risk of overdoses, study says
“Allowing people to have that agency over treatment and given that opportunity is really important in independence and in confidence building,” Charlotte Munro, one of the study’s co-authors and a member of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network’s (ODPRN) lived experienced advisory board, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.
March 1, 2022 | CTV News | News Article | Associated Research
Half of people who died from opioids in 2020 sought health care in the month before
Dr. Tara Gomes, the lead author of the report and a scientist at St. Michael’s, said the rate at which people accessed health care — outpatient visits, family doctor visits, trips to the emergency department or a hospital admission — shortly before dying is startling.
January 18, 2022 | Toronto Star | News Article | Associated Research
Deaths from the opioid crisis often make headlines. What’s overlooked is the toll on survivors
“My concern is that we make this broad-sweeping assumption that if people survive the overdose they’re okay,” said Tara Gomes, a scientist at St. Michael’s who was one of the authors of the Ontario study on infections. “It’s not enough just to think the overdose is reversed and they’re just back to where they were before.”
December 11, 2021 | The Globe and Mail | News Article | Associated Research
Pharmaceutical costs are soaring due to innovative but pricey new drugs
We are likely entering a golden era of drug innovation, with the rise of new drug development technologies and biologics, states Mina Tadrous, Tara Gomes and Michael Law in this op-ed.
December 2, 2021 | The Globe and Mail | News Article | Associated Research
Opioid deaths doubled among First Nations people in Ontario amid pandemic, report says
The number of First Nations people who died from opioid-related deaths in Ontario more than doubled during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s one of the key findings of a report released by the Chiefs of Ontario and the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network on Friday.
November 26, 2021 | Global News | News Article | Associated Research
Use of Ritalin, other stimulants can raise heart risks for older adults
ADHD medications are increasingly being prescribed to older adults, and they may cause a short-term spike in the risk of heart attack, stroke and arrhythmias, a large new study suggests.
November 2, 2021 | U.S. News | News Article | Associated Research
Opioid crisis escalating; advocates press governments to act
“We need urgent action from all levels of government. There is a need for local, provincial and federal governments to work together on this,” said Dr. Tara Gomes, a Toronto epidemiologist and the lead principal investigator of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network.
August 20, 2021 | The Intelligencer | News Article
Six Ontarians died every day from opioid overdoses at start of pandemic: study
A new study examining the impact of the ongoing opioid crisis in Ontario has found that, on average, six people a day died from opioid overdoses during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 26, 2021 | CTV News | News Article | Associated Research
Fatal opioid overdoses in Ontario surge during pandemic: report
Ontario’s opioid crisis has worsened dramatically during the pandemic, with the homeless population and those who were unemployed accounting for a significant portion of fatal overdoses, a new report has found.
May 19, 2021 | Toronto Star | News Article | Associated Research
The use of benzodiazepines, prescribed for sleep and anxiety disorders, has declined in Ontario but risen for young women, study says
While overall prescriptions for benzodiazepines in Ontario fell 13 per cent between 2013 and 2019, the report revealed prescriptions for women aged 19 to 24 have risen by 30 per cent in that same timeframe
April 29, 2021 | Toronto Star | News Article | Associated Research
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