The Economic and Social Costs of Drug and Alcohol Addiction: Finding a Path to Recovery

 Addiction is a shadow that looms over society, casting its long and damaging effects across various aspects of our lives. According to ottawapublichealth.ca, an estimated 3% of the Ottawa population aged 19 and over reported using an illicit drug other than cannabis in the past year. While we often focus

Alcohol: addiction, treatment, and cost in Canada

 There is no doubt that currently, alcohol addiction is a rapidly growing factor in the world. Day by day, a large number of young people dive into alcohol and drug addiction with low chances of getting out. Addiction has become an issue of concern as many of our young folks

Are you looking for insurance to get rid of your addiction?

 Humana is a leading health insurance company that covers drugs & alcohol rehab program treatments. It is the largest health insurance company that works for the wellness of people worldwide. They work with different rehab addiction centers and programs. Humana rehab insurance coverage depends on the different factors that include

Permanent, affordable housing is needed to protect Ottawa’s homeless

 Above: Peter Tilley, CEO of the Ottawa Mission Towards the end of 2019, the Ottawa Mission was having difficulties sheltering all the homeless people under its roof, despite having recently expanded their housing department. Now, both the number of meals being served per day and the number of people staying

Ottawa resident Séan McCann and founder of Great Big Sea to release memoir

 Séan McCann, founder of Great Big Sea will release a memoir in April titled One Good Reason: A Memoir of Addiction and Recovery, Music, and Love. The narrative moves back and forth between Séan and his wife Andrea Aragon’s points of view as they move through his addiction, and recovery.

Homewood Health — recognizing addiction as a mental health issue

 Photo courtesy of Shutterstock National network of mental health and addiction treatment clinics Homewood Health has acquired another facility, this time in Montreal, called Homewood du Plateau. Homewood Health acquired half of the facility in 2014, and the 16-bed residence is now a fully-functional, bilingual treatment centre for people struggling

Jesse — An Opioid Addict’s Story

 Photo: OLM Staff As frontline workers and policymakers continue to try and mitigate the opioid crisis in Canada, harm-reduction services have been popping up in major cities to address the rapid increase in overdoses due to fentanyl. Long-term recovery models are still dealing with waitlists months long, and supervised injection

Provinces must act to prevent another OxyContin debacle

 By Vanessa Gruben and Louise Bélanger-Hardy This past week, 10 provincial governments have accepted a class-action settlement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.  The settlement concerns the misleading claims Purdue Pharma allegedly made to physicians about the addictive nature of the drug. These claims may have contributed to Canada’s

Learn Laugh and Listen at Recovery Day Ottawa Benefit

 Images courtesy of Recovery Day Ottawa People with addictions are weak. They bring it on themselves. They are just lazy.  They need to grow up. These are the types of stereotypical misconceptions people like Gord Garner strive to remove every day. As the Festival Producer for Ottawa’s annual Recovery Day, Garner

Building Bikes a Second Life

 Photos by Eric Murphy. When you look at your old bike, the one that sat outside all winter and probably makes a few too many concerning sounds, you might see an inconvenience. However, if someone from Ottawa’s Causeway Work Centre saw that bike, they would see a treasure. For Cycle

Opioid Crisis Should Be Top of Federal Health Agenda

 Hundreds of codeine tablets stolen from the medicine cabinet of an elderly person living alone in a rural community.  Hydromorphone tablets being distributed at weddings and high school parties. Fentanyl patches being cut up and sold for a profit on the street.  This is the reality of the opioid crisis

Five Ways We Can Reduce Suicides in Canada

 Why a suicide prevention strategy needs to include injury prevention Despite recent headlines, Canadian rates of suicide and attempted suicide have remained largely unchanged over the last several decades (11 per 100,000).  What has changed is that we’ve seen increasing rates of suicide in the Canadian military recently, after stable

It’s Time to End Canada’s Opioid Epidemic – An Open Letter to Canada’s New Minister of Health

 Dear Minister Philpott, Congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Health. As an experienced physician, you bring valuable perspective to the post. While there are many contentious matters before you, including a new health accord, physician-assisted dying and marijuana legalization, few could be more pressing than the prescription opioid epidemic,

Native Man Celebrates Sobriety with Art

 Donnell Taylor of the Constance Lake First Nation paints to seek wisdom of his ancestors to deal with his addiction. On April 1, 2014, Donnell Taylor set his foot on Ottawa soil. A native man from the Constance Lake First Nation was continuing his "good journey," which started back in

Older adults living with mental illness need specialized housing

 New Calgary report warns more homeless seniors a real possibility By Pat Cashion and Lee Tunstall Older adults living with mental illness often face a double stigma in our society—both from aging and from mental illness. They are some of the most invisible and most vulnerable individuals in our communities,

Aboriginal Initiatives at Nipissing University

 The Aboriginal Initiatives Program at Nipissing University offers students a unique opportunity to remain connected with their heritage while receiving their education. Throughout the school year, as well as in the summer, the Aboriginal Initiatives Office is busy helping students engage in their studies and in their community in order

Mayor’s City Builder Award Shines Light on Vulnerable Youth

 Bill Robinson receives his Mayor's City Builder Award from Mayor Jim Watson and Councillor Marianne Wilkinson. Image courtesy of City of Ottawa.  When Bill Robinson meets me for coffee, he talks youth at-risk. Who are these children? Robinson replies: It’s a baby born into poverty. It’s a kid facing family

Canada Slow to Respond to Prescription Opioid Crisis

 In my first career as a pharmacist, I worked in more than 30 pharmacies across Nova Scotia, filling more than 100,000 prescriptions between 1990 and 1995. Some of these were for strong painkillers called opioids--drugs like morphine and oxycodone, which are chemically and biologically very similar to heroin. Back then,

Is Online Gambling Addictive?

 What is a Gambling Addiction? Gambling addiction can also be known as compulsive gambling. It is an impulse-control disorder where people are unable to control their urge to gamble, even if they see there are negative effects to gambling. Problem gamblers will continue to gamble regardless of their situation--whether they