Tackling the overdose crisis: The role of safe supply.

North America is experiencing an unprecedented overdose crisis driven by the proliferation of fentanyl and its analogues in the illicit drug supply. In 2018 there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths in the United States, and since 2016, there have been more than 14,700 overdose deaths in Canada, with most related to fentanyl. Despite concerted efforts and some positive progress, current public health, substance use treatment, and harm reduction interventions (such as widespread naloxone distribution and implementation of supervised consumption sites) have not been able to rapidly decrease overdose fatalities. In view of the persistent gaps in services and the limitations of available options, immediate scale-up of low-barrier opioid distribution programs are urgently needed. This includes "off-label" prescription of pharmaceutical grade opioids (e.g., hydromorphone) to disrupt the toxic drug supply and make safer opioids widely available to people at high risk of fatal overdose.

Ivsins A ，Boyd J ，Beletsky L ，McNeil R ... -  《-》

Barriers and facilitators to a novel low-barrier hydromorphone distribution program in Vancouver, Canada: a qualitative study.

North America is experiencing an overdose crisis driven by illicitly-manufactured fentanyl, related analogues, and fentanyl-adulterated drugs. The concept of 'safe supply' has been suggested as a potential measure to address the overdose crisis by providing a regulated alternative to illicit opioids to people at high risk of fatal overdose. In January 2019, a novel hydromorphone tablet distribution program was implemented within an overdose prevention site in Vancouver, Canada's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. This study explored barriers and facilitators to engagement with this program. In-depth interviews were conducted with 42 participants enrolled in the hydromorphone tablet distribution program, and over 100 h of ethnographic observation were conducted in and around the study site. Thematic analysis of the interviews and ethnographic observation focused on program operation, including barriers and facilitators to program uptake, access, and engagement. Barriers to program engagement identified include: limited operating hours and dose schedule, co-location within the overdose prevention site (e.g., wait times), and receiving the generic formulation of hydromorphone. Facilitators identified include: having access to a reliable source of opioids, co-location within the overdose prevention site (e.g., low-barrier design), experiences of agency, and program flexibility. Our findings demonstrate key implementation and operational considerations of safe supply programs. In particular, lower-barrier design and operational features should be considered to improve uptake and engagement. Safe opioid supply programs are a promising intervention to address North America's ongoing overdose crisis by providing people at high risk of fatal overdose an alternative to the toxic drug supply.

Ivsins A ，Boyd J ，Mayer S ，Collins A ，Sutherland C ，Kerr T ，McNeil R ... -  《-》

An individual-based dynamic model to assess interventions to mitigate opioid overdose risk.

Illicit opioid overdose continues to rise in North America and is a leading cause of death. Mathematical modeling is a valuable tool to investigate the epidemiology of this public health issue, as it can characterize key features of population outcomes and quantify the broader effect of structural and interventional changes on overdose mortality. The aim of this study is to quantify and predict the impact of key harm reduction strategies at differing levels of scale-up on fatal and nonfatal overdose among a population of people engaging in unregulated opioid use in Toronto. An individual-based model for opioid overdose was built featuring demographic and behavioural variation among members of the population. Key individual attributes known to scale the risk of fatal and nonfatal overdose were identified and incorporated into a dynamic modeling framework, wherein every member of the simulated population encompasses a set of distinct characteristics that govern demographics, intervention usage, and overdose incidence. The model was parametrized to fatal and nonfatal overdose events reported in Toronto in 2019. The interventions considered were opioid agonist therapy (OAT), supervised consumption sites (SCS), take-home naloxone (THN), drug-checking, and reducing fentanyl in the drug supply. Harm reduction scenarios were explored relative to a baseline model to examine the impact of each intervention being scaled from 0% use to 100% use on overdose events. Model simulations resulted in 3690.6 nonfatal and 295.4 fatal overdoses, coinciding with 2019 data from Toronto. From this baseline, at full scale-up, 290 deaths were averted by THN, 248 from eliminating fentanyl from the drug supply, 124 from SCS use, 173 from OAT, and 100 by drug-checking services. Drug-checking and reducing fentanyl in the drug supply were the only harm reduction strategies that reduced the number of nonfatal overdoses. Within a multi-faceted harm reduction approach, scaling up take-home naloxone, and reducing fentanyl in the drug supply led to the largest reduction in opioid overdose fatality in Toronto. Detailed model simulation studies provide an additional tool to assess and inform public health policy on harm reduction.

Gallant K ，Lukeman R 《Harm Reduction Journal》

"It's Helped Me a Lot, Just Like to Stay Alive": a Qualitative Analysis of Outcomes of a Novel Hydromorphone Tablet Distribution Program in Vancouver, Canada.

Ivsins A ，Boyd J ，Mayer S ，Collins A ，Sutherland C ，Kerr T ，McNeil R ... -  《-》

Community partner perspectives on the implementation of a novel safer supply program in Canada: a qualitative study of the MySafe Project.

The adulteration of the illicit drug supply with fentanyl and its analogues is driving the ongoing overdose crisis in North America. While various harm reduction interventions address overdose-related risks, there is growing interest in safer supply programs, including the MySafe Project which utilizes a biometric dispensing machine that provides pharmaceutical opioid alternatives to the toxic drug supply. However, the experiences and perspectives of professional community partners on program implementation remain unexplored. This study aims to examine professional community partner perspectives on the feasibility, as well as barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the MySafe program. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 professional community partners involved in program implementation across four pilot locations in Canada. Thematic analysis of interviews focused on perspectives on safer supply, barriers and facilitators faced during program implementation, and recommendations to inform future scale-up of low-barrier safer supply models across Canada. Participants identified a variety of barriers, including the dependence on clinician buy-in, coupled with regulatory and logistical constraints. In addition, some participants perceived hydromorphone to be an inadequate substitute to the increasingly toxic street opioid supply. Lastly, technical difficulties were described as barriers to service uptake and delivery. Conversely, having political and community buy-in, availability of wrap-around services, and collaborative communication from the MySafe team served as facilitators to program implementation. Though community partners preferred establishing MySafe machines into existing community organizations, they also discussed benefits of housing-based MySafe programs. The potential role of this program in mid-sized to rural cities was also emphasized. To address the overdose crisis, there is an urgent need to implement and evaluate novel solutions that address supply drivers of crisis. Community partner-informed research plays an integral role in ensuring program acceptability and proper implementation. Our findings identify current gaps and facilitators underlying the efficacy of one such model, together with future directions for improvement. Participant recommendations included a diversification of medications offered and types of locations for MySafe programs, a streamlined national approach to prescribing guidelines coupled with more robust training for healthcare professionals, and an emphasis on service delivery within an integrated services model. Our findings underscore a potential gap between the goals of healthcare providers in ensuring comprehensive care and the necessity for low-barrier models such as MySafe that can function both within and outside of integrated service models.

Mansoor M ，Foreman-Mackey A ，Ivsins A ，Bardwell G ... -  《Harm Reduction Journal》