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Abstract Details
Addressing the Syndemic of HIV, Hepatitis C, Overdose, and COVID-19 Among People Who Use Drugs: The Potential Roles for Decriminalization and Safe Supply
J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2020 Sep;81(5):556-560.
Matthew Bonn1, Adam Palayew2, Sofia Bartlett3, Thomas D Brothers4, Natasha Touesnard1, Mark Tyndall5
Author information
1Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.
2Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
3Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
4Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
5School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract
People who use drugs (PWUD) face concurrent public health emergencies from overdoses, HIV, hepatitis C, and COVID-19, leading to an unprecedented syndemic. Responses to PWUD that go beyond treatment--such as decriminalization and providing a safe supply of pharmaceutical-grade drugs--could reduce impacts of this syndemic. Solutions already implemented for COVID-19, such as emergency safe-supply prescribing and providing housing to people experiencing homelessness, must be sustained once COVID-19 is contained. This pandemic is not only a public health crisis but also a chance to develop and maintain equitable and sustainable solutions to the harms associated with the criminalization of drug use.