ARTICLES
Ontario is backing rehab instead of safe drug injection sites. Those who know the system say both are needed
At the same time as the government is pumping new cash into rehab, it is slashing funding from another pillar of drug recovery: harm reduction.
Portugal’s storied fight against drugs has saved countless lives. Will its next chapter have a happy ending?
As Canada rethinks harm reduction, Portugal's novel approach offers valuable insights
‘I didn’t care about death. I cared about drugs’: Opioid crisis in Canada’s prisons leaves inmates with life-sentence of despair
As Canada grapples with a severe national drug crisis, experts say the country’s prisons are overwhelmed.
How Scotland kicked its alcohol problem — and what Ontario could learn from it
Drinkers might delight in Ontario’s booze bonanza, but Scotland’s strategy is saving lives.
What went wrong with drug decriminalization in British Columbia? Those on the streets have a message for Toronto
On the streets of Victoria, addicts and those who care about them have mixed feelings about the return of criminalization, and they have a warning for Toronto.
Hot shots: Are laced drugs being used to murder people?
Podcast by Raju Mudhar. The opioid crisis has claimed many lives. Some believe that some of those deaths were targeted killings.
Fully investigating overdose deaths could be key to uncovering ‘hot shot’ murders
With overdose deaths more than quadrupling from 2016 to 2021, police in Niagara are taking new steps to scrutinize fatal overdoses.
Was street hero murdered? His death was ruled an accidental overdose. Friends say he was targeted.
Christopher Schwede was a crack cocaine user and dealer who worked to keep drug supplies clean. Friends say his death may have been a ‘hot shot’ and is worthy of further investigation.
‘A wound that will stay with us forever.’ Inside a traumatized Ukraine
The trauma of women and children who have been attacked, tortured and raped by Russian soldiers is leaving victims in a dark place. Many have nowhere to turn for help.
‘She doesn’t like to speak.’ The children who fled war-torn Ukraine face long recovery
Many who have experienced violence from Russian attacks, lost a parent or have no home to return to are in deep distress
No end in sight to war for overwhelmed Ukraine psychologists dealing with the mental health fallout
Beyond dealing with the physical horrors, panic attacks, insomnia, flashbacks, anxiety and depression affect majority of patients
Finding a father on Facebook Marketplace
Why prospective parents are turning to social media for sperm donations. “I was in such a place of desperation, thinking, ‘Just give me the baby, and I will figure everything else out later.’”
Is Canada ready for a menopause revolution?
Half of Canadian women feel unprepared and three quarters who sought medical advice found it lacking
Amid Victoria’s drug crisis, the angel of Pandora Street helps keep homeless people alive
Once an addict herself, Millie Modeste says this is “what I was meant to do” as deaths from toxic drugs take more lives in B.C. than all other unnatural causes.
Black Canadians’ chances of getting kidney transplant hurt by race-based adjustment
Charles Cook has survived a stroke, a heart transplant, a kidney transplant and months in Toronto General Hospital. The 53-year-old knows he’s one of the lucky ones. But he worries that while waiting for his next new kidney, his luck will run out.
‘This is a place of healing’: The power of a sweat-lodge ceremony
The tent-like dome shaped from willow boughs and covered with blankets and tarps on the Cowichan reservation on Vancouver Island does not look much like a place of healing. But a place of healing is what it is.
The diabetes cure: A century after Banting and Best’s ‘message of hope,’ science is actually close
Lisa Hepner still remembers the shock of being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a 21-year-old student. She thought she was just tired from too much partying. But her pancreas had stopped making the insulin needed to break down sugar, doctors said. It could shorten her life and cause a raft of complications: blindness, stroke, kidney disease and even amputation.
Why female executives are reluctant to talk about menopause
Menopause symptoms interfere with most women’s lives, according to a U.S. survey. And these challenges emerge between ages 45 and 55, just as women are likely to move into leadership positions.
My friend joined the vaccine exodus, but I still can’t wait to welcome her back
My negative views about anti-vaxxers were put to the test this fall when one of my closest friends moved her family from Simcoe, Ont., to Florida to escape Canada’s widening array of vaccine mandates.
Psychiatrist burnout: Why COVID-weary doctors are taking a mental-health break
Toronto psychiatrist Dr. Yusra Ahmad’s infectious laugh belies the stress she is feeling. The single mother and survivor of domestic violence worries about her 12-year-old daughter learning virtually.