ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2022
"COVID just kind of opened a can of whoop-ass": The rapid growth of safer supply prescribing during the pandemic documented through an environmental scan of addiction and harm reduction services in Canada.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Safer opioid supply clients' values and preferences: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative research.BMJ mental health · 2025Pooled it
- "Anybody who Looks at This Program and Doesn't See the Positive Side from it Doesn't Fully Understand": Participant Perspectives on an Injectable Opioid Agonist Treatment Program in New Brunswick, Canada.Contemporary drug problems · 2026Article
- Hydromorphone in Pediatric Pain Management: Pharmacology, Clinical Applications, and Safety Considerations-A Narrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- "Safer supply is the thing that changes everything": the role of prescribed safer supply in rebuilding trust following experiences of medical abandonment.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Safe Supply at Insite, North America's First Supervised Consumption Site: A Case Report of Reduced Harms From the Toxic Drug Supply in a Client Prescribed Powdered Fentanyl Alternative.Drug and alcohol review · 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
- Perspectives on prescribed safer supply programs among people who inject drugs in Baltimore, Maryland: A mixed methods study among individuals highly affected by drug toxicity.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- Harnessing telemedicine to deliver patient-centered opioid agonist treatment within a community-based harm reduction service: a mixed methods evaluation.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- A qualitative study exploring motives for the transition from injecting to smoking drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- Co-creating health system innovation with people who use drugs.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- "From an HCV and HIV point of view, it's been remarkable": A qualitative study about using prescribed safer supply to support people who use drugs along the HIV and HCV prevention and treatment cascades in Ontario, Canada.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2025Article
- Clinicians' Perspectives and an Ethical Analysis of Safer Supply Opioid Prescribing.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2025Article
- Reimagining subjectivities in place: Necropolitical logics of safer supply and housing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Barriers and facilitators to safer supply pilot program implementation in Canada: a qualitative assessment of service provider perspectives.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- A Preliminary Assessment of Short-Term Social and Substance Use-Related Outcomes Among Clients of Integrated Safer Opioid Supply Pilot Programs in Toronto, Canada.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2025Article
- Early experiences and impacts of a fentanyl powder safer supply program in Vancouver, Canada: a qualitative study.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2025Article
- Perspectives on Diversion of Medications From Safer Opioid Supply Programs.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- "They talk about it like it's an overdose crisis when in fact it's basically genocide": The experiences of Indigenous peoples who use illicit drugs in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Giving Up the Guidelines: A Qualitative Evaluation of Disrupted Prescribing of Opioid Substitution Therapy in a Rural UK County During and Following the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and 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
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 12 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesIn the context of the ongoing overdose crisis, a stark increase in toxic drug deaths from the unregulated street supply accompanied the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT - hydromorphone or medical-grade heroin), tablet-based iOAT (TiOAT), and safer supply prescribing are emerging interventions used to address this crisis in Canada. Given rapid clinical guidance and policy change to enable their local adoption, our objectives were to describe the state of these interventions before the pandemic, and to document and explain changes in implementation during the early pandemic response (March-May 2020).
methodsSurveys and interviews with healthcare providers comprised this mixed methods national environmental scan of iOAT, TiOAT, and safer supply across Canada at two time points. Quantitative data were summarized using descriptive statistics; interview data were coded and analyzed thematically.
results103 sites in 6 Canadian provinces included 19 iOAT, 3 TiOAT and 21 safer supply sites on March 1, 2020; 60 new safer supply sites by May 1 represented a 285% increase. Most common substances were opioids, available at all sites; most common settings were addiction treatment programs and primary care clinics, and onsite pharmacies models. 79% of safer supply services were unfunded. Diversity in service delivery models demonstrated broad adaptability. Qualitative data reinforced the COVID-19 pandemic as the driving force behind scale-up. DISCUSSION: Data confirmed the capacity for rapid scale-up of flexible, community-based safer supply prescribing during dual public health emergencies. Geographical, client demographic, and funding gaps highlight the need to target barriers to implementation, service delivery and sustainability.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.