Jan 22

Grass Roots Efforts to Battle the Opioid Crisis

Two recent news stories show that there are many ways of battling the opioid crisis. Former BC Minister for Health, Terry Lake, has recently stated he believes that marijuana could play a part in harm reduction, and could help people come off opioids. The Roshni Clinic is a medical clinic in BC and a social services office in Alberta working to provide support to those in the South Asian community affected by drugs and alcohol. Marijuana an Option for Opioid Reduction? Terry Lake was the...
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Jan 17

Provincial Snapshot: Accessing Public Treatment in BC

As part of our new series, Provincial Snapshot, Canada Drug Rehab will investigate the steps involved in how to access public treatment going from province to province each month. In Canada, you must be seeking treatment in the same province or territory as your health card. Only in rare cases can someone be referred across provincial lines. Therefore, if you are living in British Columbia and wish to seek treatment but are originally from Alberta, you must decide to either go back to Alberta...
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Jan 11

Drug Fact Sheet: Ecstasy

Welcome to the first of our monthly drug fact sheets! A lot of us know the names of common recreational and prescription drugs, but do you know where they originated from, how they are produced, or what their effects really are? Each month we will take a look at a new substance and cover a few facts you should probably know about them. To kick off the new year we will be starting with Ecstasy and “party drugs”. While any drug you take while partying could be called a party drug, party...
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Jan 9

Gaming Addiction now a WHO Designated Disorder

The World Health Organization (WHO) has begun 2018 by adding “gaming disorder”, or gaming addiction, to its International Classification of Diseases (ICD). This comes after years of rumblings by health professionals noting addictive behaviours exhibited in some video gamers. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the “bible” of psychiatric disorders. In 2013, the most recent edition of the DSM listed internet gaming disorder as a “condition for further...
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Jan 4

Healthy Goal Setting for the New Year: Avoiding the Shame Game

New Years can be a daunting time, and New Year’s resolutions have the potential to be both exciting and intimidating. Let’s go through some steps to improve one of the most common new year’s goals one so that it will inspire rather than depress you: 1. Make it Positive Rather than “I want to lose weight” try “I want to get healthy”. Being thin isn’t the pinnacle of success, and focusing too much on the external can diminish your internal self worth. Being healthy is a positive...
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