Drugs are chemicals or substances that can cause many different reactions in the body. They can change the way someone acts, thinks, or feels. People may choose to use drugs for many reasons. These might include but are not limited to coping with pain, challenging life circumstances, as the result of peer pressure, or out of simple curiosity. Whatever the reason, use of drugs can lead to negative impacts on one’s life and health. However, HPEPH, along with community partners, works to promote strategies that can help reduce harm associated with drug use, and help people get help if and when they want it.
Find out more about the current opioid crisis, a well as some of the most commonly used illicit drugs.
- Opioid Monitoring Dashboard – HPEPH
- Automated Opioid News Event-based Surveillance (AONES)
- Canada’s Opioid Crisis – Health Canada
- Benzodiazepines – Health Canada
- Carfentanil – Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
- Etizolam – Alberta Health Services
- Fentanyl – CAMH
- GHB – CAMH
- Heroin – CAMH
- Methamphetamine – CAMH
- Xylazine – Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
Needle exchange sites are places where individuals can obtain new needles, sterile water, alcohol swabs, cookers, filters, ascorbic acid, and tourniquets, as well as sharps containers for safe disposal of used needles and cookers. These sharps containers can then be returned to any participating exchange site for safe disposal. Find a needle exchange site near you.
This program has been established to help reduce harm related to injection drug use, and ensure proper and safe disposal of needles in our community.
