Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de santé publique
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Can J Public Health · Mar 2009
How many people in Canada use prescription opioids non-medically in general and street drug using populations?
Medical prescriptions for opioids as well as their non-medical use have increased in Canada in recent years. This study aimed to estimate the number of non-medical prescription opioid (PO) users in the general and street drug using populations in Canada. ⋯ There is an urgent need to further assess the extent and patterns of non-medical prescription opioid use, related problems and drug distribution channels in Canada.
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Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in Canada, used by 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 4 students. Other forms of drug use (e.g., alcohol or injection drug use) are increasingly approached within a public health policy framework that focuses on reducing harms rather than use per se. Cannabis, by contrast, remains formally controlled by a criminal justice approach that focuses on enforcing abstinence. ⋯ In a public health framework, cannabis use - especially in young populations - should be systematically monitored and high-risk patterns of use screened for in appropriate settings, e.g., schools and GP offices. Evidence-based primary and secondary prevention, treatment and enforcement need to be targeted at these high-risk patterns of use. Given the large cannabis user population, especially among young people, and the failure of the criminalization approach to discourage use, a public health framework for cannabis use is urgently needed in Canada.
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To examine the relationship between density of fast food restaurants and measures of social and material deprivation at the community level in Nova Scotia, Canada. ⋯ Community-level deprivation in Nova Scotia is associated with fast food outlet density and lends support for environmental explanations for variations in the prevalence of obesity. Such findings are valuable to population health intervention initiatives targeting the modification of environmental determinants of obesity.
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Can J Public Health · Jan 2009
[The place of syringe exchange programs in reducing harm in Canadian prisoners].
The prevalence rates of illicit drug consumption within the prison system are much higher than those in the Canadian population in general. Of the substances used in detention, those of most concern to prison and public health authorities are injection drugs, as the sharing of injection drug equipment may be responsible for the high prevalence of blood-borne diseases in prison facilities. ⋯ However, despite their use in the community, needle-exchange programs are not yet allowed in penitentiaries. This article analyzes the limits of harm reduction strategies approved by the prison authorities and discusses the sources of resistance that continue to impede the realization of a pilot project to assess the feasibility of needle-exchange programs in detention in Canada.
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Five cycles of data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (1994/5-2002/3) were used to examine patterns of child care use in Quebec and the rest of Canada to explore the impact of Quebec's implementation of universal child care. ⋯ Findings suggest that since the introduction of Quebec's universal child care program, there was an increase in the use of regulated child care for families of preschool-aged children in the province, although by 2002 Quebec had not achieved the coverage of universal child care programs attained by many European countries.