ArticleCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2023
Safer opioid supply via a biometric dispensing machine: a qualitative study of barriers, facilitators and associated outcomes.
Article in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Safer opioid supply clients' values and preferences: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative research.BMJ mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Vending machines for reducing harm associated with substance use and use disorders, and co-occurring conditions: a systematic review.Harm reduction journal · 2025Pooled it
- Safer supply deprescribing during a toxic drug poisoning crisis in Vancouver, Canada.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- "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
- "Smart" harm reduction vending machines to improve public health: Evaluating the utilization.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2026Article
- A sea of need: provider accounts of strategies used to manage admission demands to safer opioid supply programs in Ontario.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
- The potential use of digital technologies to enhance opioid agonist treatment in rural and remote communities of British Columbia, Canada.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
- Barriers and facilitators to safer supply pilot program implementation in Canada: a qualitative assessment of service provider perspectives.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Perceived impacts of North Americas first de-medicalized safer supply program.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 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
- A qualitative evaluation of a fentanyl patch safer supply program in Vancouver, Canada.The International journal on drug 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
- "Safer Drug Supply" Measures in Canada to Reduce the Drug Overdose Fatality Toll: Clarifying Concepts, Practices and Evidence Within a Public Health Intervention Framework.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2023Article
- Ending the overdose epidemic by ending the war on drug users: Can this work?Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPNArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe MySafe program provides pharmaceutical-grade opioids to participants with opioid use disorder via a biometric dispensing machine. The objectives of this study were to examine facilitators and barriers to safer supply via the MySafe program and the associated outcomes.
methodsWe conducted semistructured interviews with participants who had been enrolled in the MySafe program for at least a month at 1 of 3 sites in Vancouver. We developed the interview guide in consultation with a community advisory board. Interviews focused on context of substance use and overdose risk, enrolment motivations, program access and functionality, and outcomes. We integrated case study and grounded theory methodologies, and used both conventional and directed content analyses to guide inductive and deductive coding processes.
resultsWe interviewed 46 participants. Characteristics that facilitated use of the program included accessibility and choice, a lack of consequences for missing doses, nonwitnessed dosing, judgment-free services and an ability to accumulate doses. Barriers included technological issues with the dispensing machine, dosing challenges and prescriptions being tied to individual machines. Participant-reported outcomes included reduced use of illicit drugs, decreased overdose risk, positive financial impacts and improvements in health and well-being.
interpretationParticipants perceived that the MySafe program reduced drug-related harms and promoted positive outcomes. This service delivery model may be able to circumvent barriers that exist at other safer opioid supply programs and may enable access to safer supply in settings where programs may otherwise be limited.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.