ArticleJournal of substance abuse treatment2021
Identifying the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on service access for people who use drugs (PWUD): A national qualitative study.
Article in Journal of substance abuse treatment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 85 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
85 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 142 citations in OpenAlex.
- Safer opioid supply clients' values and preferences: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative research.BMJ mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Assessing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic impacts on the health of people who inject drugs using a novel data sharing model.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Guideline
- Management of opioid use disorder: 2024 update to the national clinical practice guideline.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Guideline
- Examining inequities in access to opioid agonist treatment (OAT) take-home doses (THD): A Canadian OAT guideline synthesis and systematic review.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Pooled it
- The impact of relaxing restrictions on take-home doses during the COVID-19 pandemic on program effectiveness and client experiences in opioid agonist treatment: a mixed methods systematic review.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Pooled it
- The impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on drug overdose-related deaths in the United States and Canada: a systematic review of observational studies and analysis of public health surveillance data.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2021Pooled it
- Emergency preparedness planning: lessons from COVID-19 and the opioid crisis in rural Ohio.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Spatializing Substance Use and Sexual Behaviors of Queer Men and Non-binary Individuals During COVID-19.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Alcohol- and drug-related mortality in Brazil: an ecological and population-based study on changes observed during the COVID-19 pandemic.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Disaster Within a Disaster: Ensuring Access to Opioid Use Disorder Treatment During Natural Crises.American journal of public health · 2026Article
- Changes in drug-use behaviors among people who use drugs with comorbid psychiatric disorders across the COVID-19 pandemic: a three-phase longitudinal cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Harnessing telemedicine to deliver patient-centered opioid agonist treatment within a community-based harm reduction service: a mixed methods evaluation.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Correlates of residential detoxification completers and non-completers in Alberta.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2025Article
- Interventions for stimulant use in people who are homeless or vulnerably housed: a scoping review of the evidence including trauma-informed approaches.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Innovations at the intersection of homelessness and substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Overall and substance use-specific healthcare utilization among individuals with and without criminal justice involvement in Ontario, Canada.International journal of prison health · 2025Article
- "The people who depended on us became expendable": Experiences of frontline workers with lived and living expertise of drug use during the COVID-19 pandemic.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Key and evolving needs of service providers in women's harm reduction centers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- City-level drug policies in Portugal: the COVID-19 pandemic as an analyzer of harm reduction responsiveness in Porto and Lisbon.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionClosures and reductions in capacity of select health and social services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may have placed people who use drugs (PWUD) at a disproportionately increased risk for experiencing harms, and resulted in critical treatment disruptions. We conducted the current national study among a cohort of PWUD to understand how COVID-19 has affected service access, including any significant impacts PWUD may have experienced. Results will contribute to the evidence base for informing future pandemic and public health policy planning for vulnerable populations.
methodsThe project involved qualitative telephone-based interviews with 196 adult (aged 18+) PWUD from across Canada. Eligibility criteria included daily or weekly use of psychoactive substance(s), and/or current enrollment in opioid agonist treatment (OAT). Data collection took place between May and July 2020. Data underwent thematic analyses, and common themes informed the results.
resultsMost participants experienced detrimental service access issues and treatment disruptions during COVID-19, including reduced access to harm reduction services, OAT, withdrawal management and treatment services, medical professionals (e.g., addictions and mental health counseling), shelters/housing, and food banks. Positive impacts included greater access to OAT take-home 'carries' and prescription deliveries. Decreases in service capacity resulted in increased health issues and risky substance use behaviors among PWUD, such as unaccompanied substance use, sharing/re-use of supplies, and overdose events.
conclusionsReductions in the accessibility of critical services PWUD rely on during COVID-19 has increased existent substance use and health issues among PWUD, while decreasing their ability to mitigate risks related to substance use. Thus, the expansion of the depth and breadth of support options is crucial. Services must remain open and flexible to the unique needs of PWUD during COVID-19, while novel and effective adaptations and interventions should remain available and accessible post-COVID-19.
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