Understanding Dial-A-Doping and Developing Profiles of Dial-A-Dopers in British Columbia

This purpose of this project was to develop a better understanding of the profile of street-level dial-a-dopers and the pathways to dial-a-doping in British Columbia. To do so, quantitative analyses of drug trends in the province between 2013 and 2020 were analysed both at a provincial level, at a policing district level, and at the … Read more

Tangled Up in Green: Cannabis Legalization in British Columbia After One Year

The pace at which cannabis legalization has occurred in the last five years is staggering. In that time, numerous US states have legalized recreational and medical cannabis and several countries, including Canada, have legalized it federally. In the span of under two years cannabis has gone from being a criminally prohibited substance to being considered … Read more

City of Surrey Opioid Summit: Data to Action

Potential solutions for the overdose crisis were developed a ground-breaking summit June 4 and 5 in Surrey. Bringing together more than 60 experts, academics and service providers, the City of Surrey Opioid Summit: From Data to Action stemmed from the multi-agency Opioid Intervention Project the City has been spearheading with Statistics Canada since fall 2017. … Read more

Predicting Illicit Opiate Drug Overdoses in the City of Surrey Impacts of Opioid use in Neighbourhoods

This study examines the spatial and temporal distribution of the incidence of overdoses and deaths attributable to opioid abuse within the City of Surrey from 2016 to 2018. As the general epidemiological literature reports, the distribution of overdose incidents and deaths is neither random in space nor time. Spatially, these incidents tend to cluster around … Read more

Opioid Intervention Strategies in Surrey, British Columbia: An Evaluation of the Trends and Treatments

In the past few years, the Province of British Columbia has experienced a substantial increase in the number of opioid-related overdoses and deaths. In absolute numbers, illicit drug overdose deaths related to opioid use increased from 294 in 2010 to 1,489 in 2018. Much of this appears due to the introduction of synthetic narcotics such … Read more

GREAT EXPECTATIONS? PERCEPTIONS OF CANNABIS REGULATION IN ABBOTSFORD, BRITISH COLUMBIA

On October 17th, 2018, Canada will become the first G7 country, and second country worldwide, to legalize recreational cannabis on the federal level. Given that few nations have taken this step, the impact on municipalities and communities is still unknown. The main objective of this report is to provide insight into the expectations around and unintended consequences of … Read more

The Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana and Implications for Local Government

The purpose of this study is to provide the City of Surrey with a literature review of journal articles and technical reports relating to the pending legalization and regulation of marijuana in Canada. The literature review is centred around five main themes: (1) marijuana harms to infants, children, and youth: (2) marijuana use and burn … Read more

Illuminating the Hazards of Residential Marijuana Grow Operations

Much has changed in the marijuana-production landscape in the United States and Canada in recent years, from the expanding legalization and decriminalization of marijuana use in the U.S. to changes in Canada’s regulation of how medical marijuana may be grown and sold. Amid these changes, recent research shows that growing marijuana within a residential setting … Read more