Characterizing opioid agonist treatment discontinuation trends in British Columbia, Canada, 2012-2018.

Background: Given the elevated risk of mortality immediately following opioid agonist treatment (OAT) discontinuation, determining the frequency and timing of OAT discontinuation can help guide the planning of services to facilitate uninterrupted OAT. We sought to describe weekly and monthly trends in OAT episode discontinuations in British Columbia to determine the potential resource needs for implementing support services.

Methods: This population-based retrospective study utilized a provincial-level linkage of health administrative databases to identify all people with opioid use disorder (PWOUD) who received OAT between 01/2012-08/2018.

Diagnosis of Opioid Use Disorder by Youths Assessed in Acute Care Settings in British Columbia, Canada.

Objectives: To describe trends in the number of youths diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) and to identify factors associated with OUD diagnosis in acute care settings.

Study Design: Data from a population-based retrospective cohort study with linkage of 6 health administrative databases for 13 009 youth age 12-24 years identified with OUD between 2001 and 2018 in British Columbia, Canada were used to describe annual diagnoses. Using a multiple logistic regression model, we estimated the association between past-year health care utilization and OUD diagnosis in acute settings, controlling for sociodemographic and OUD-related comorbid conditions.

"I couldn't say, I'm not a girl"--adolescents talk about gender and marijuana use.

In this paper we report on findings from a qualitative study of marijuana use by adolescents in two communities in British Columbia, Canada. During 2005 and 2006, 45 interviews were carried out at schools with students aged 13-18, with an aim of understanding how adolescents perceive their experiences with marijuana to be shaped by gender. While it has been established that patterns of use differ for girls and boys, there is relatively little qualitative research addressing marijuana smoking as gendered social practice.

Making residential cannabis growing operations actionable: a critical policy analysis.

Background: In 2006, the British Columbia (BC) government passed amendments to its Safety Standards Act. These amendments permit the routine disclosure of electrical usage information from electrical producers to BC's municipalities, ostensibly to identify and eradicate residential cannabis growing operations (grow ops). These amendments originated in a pilot project in Surrey, BC, known as the electrical and fire safety inspection initiative (EFSI), which drew together police, firefighters and others, to identify grow ops through the process of municipal electrical inspections.

A summer outbreak of human metapneumovirus infection in a long-term-care facility.

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV), a recently discovered paramyxovirus, is thought to be primarily a winter-spring pathogen affecting young children with a clinical presentation similar to that of respiratory syncytial virus. In June-July 2006, a respiratory outbreak in a long-term-care facility was reported to the local health department and investigated. Surveillance identified 26 residents and 13 staff with acute respiratory illness; 8 residents (31%) developed radiographically confirmed pneumonia, and 2 (5%) were hospitalized.