ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2022
Evaluation of an emergency safe supply drugs and managed alcohol program in COVID-19 isolation hotel shelters for people experiencing homelessness.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Participant perspectives on a safe supply program in Vancouver, Canada: impacts, satisfaction and improvement priorities.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- "With this you're not chained down to something": contrasting experiences of opioid agonist treatment and safer supply program participation among people receiving prescribed safer supply.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Insights from COVID-19 pandemic-era innovations at the intersection of homelessness and substance use: in-depth qualitative interviews with key informants.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- COVID-19 isolation and recovery sites evaluation: Lessons learned for systems innovation.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2025Article
- A sea of need: provider accounts of strategies used to manage admission demands to safer opioid supply programs in Ontario.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Harm reduction approaches for the use of benzodiazepines: a scoping review.Harm reduction journal · 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
- Clinicians' Perspectives and an Ethical Analysis of Safer Supply Opioid Prescribing.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2025Article
- Innovations at the intersection of homelessness and substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Safer Opioid Supply programs: Hydromorphone prescribing in Ontario as a harm reduction intervention to combat the drug poisoning crisis.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2025Article
- A pilot evaluation of managed alcohol programs operating in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Perceived impacts of North Americas first de-medicalized safer supply program.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2025Article
- Law Enforcement Drug Seizures and Opioid-Involved Overdose Mortality.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Exploring the effects of COVID-19 outbreak control policies on services offered to people experiencing homelessness.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Access and barriers to safer supply prescribing during a toxic drug emergency: a mixed methods study of implementation in British Columbia, Canada.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2024Article
- "Everybody looks at it as drug use instead of pain management": Experiences of chronic pain and its management among older people living with HIV who use drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- "If it wasn't for them, I don't think I would be here": experiences of the first year of a safer supply program during the dual public health emergencies of COVID-19 and the drug toxicity crisis.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Prescribed safer supply during dual public health emergencies: a qualitative study examining service providers perspectives on early implementation.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2024Article
- Substance use care innovations during COVID-19: barriers and facilitators to the provision of safer supply at a toronto COVID-19 isolation and recovery site.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Factors associated with obtaining prescribed safer supply among people accessing harm reduction services: findings from a cross-sectional survey.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDuring a COVID-19 outbreak in the congregate shelter system in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, a healthcare team provided an emergency "safe supply" of medications and alcohol to facilitate isolation in COVID-19 hotel shelters for residents who use drugs and/or alcohol. We aimed to evaluate (a) substances and dosages provided, and (b) outcomes of the program.
methodsWe reviewed medical records of all COVID-19 isolation hotel shelter residents during May 2021. The primary outcome was successful completion of 14 days isolation, as directed by public health orders. Adverse events included (a) overdose; (b) intoxication; and (c) diversion, selling, or sharing of medications or alcohol.
resultsSeventy-seven isolation hotel residents were assessed (mean age 42 ± 14 years; 24% women). Sixty-two (81%) residents were provided medications, alcohol, or cigarettes. Seventeen residents (22%) received opioid agonist treatment (methadone, buprenorphine, or slow-release oral morphine) and 27 (35%) received hydromorphone. Thirty-one (40%) residents received prescriptions stimulants. Six (8%) residents received benzodiazepines and forty-two (55%) received alcohol. Over 14 days, mean daily dosages increased of hydromorphone (45 ± 32 - 57 ± 42 mg), methylphenidate (51 ± 28 - 77 ± 37 mg), and alcohol (12.3 ± 7.6 - 13.0 ± 6.9 standard drinks). Six residents (8%) left isolation prematurely, but four returned. During 1059 person-days, there were zero overdoses. Documented concerns regarding intoxication occurred six times (0.005 events/person-day) and medication diversion/sharing three times (0.003 events/person-day).
conclusionsCOVID-19 isolation hotel residents participating in an emergency safe supply and managed alcohol program experienced high rates of successful completion of 14 days isolation and low rates of adverse events.
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Registered trials
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