Stimulant safe supply: a potential opportunity to respond to the overdose epidemic

Abstract

Background: Occurring against the backdrop of an overdose crisis, stimulant use and stimulant-involved deaths in North America are increasing at an alarming rate. Many of these deaths are being attributed to fentanyl and related analogs, which have been increasingly found within street-level stimulant supplies. Within this, people experiencing socioeconomic marginalization are at the greatest risk of overdose and other harms from adulterated stimulants. Current treatments for stimulant use disorder have limited effectiveness, and even less applicability to the lived realities of marginalized stimulant users. Emerging technologies, such as drug checking, are being implemented to support safer stimulant use, but the accessibility and utility of these technologies to stimulant users are framed by experiences of vulnerability that render them largely ineffective. Stimulant safe supply: Solutions that provide a legal and safe supply of non-adulterated stimulants of known quality, and within a health care framework, are needed to directly address the risk of an increasingly adulterated stimulant supply. Similar innovative opioid-focused interventions are being piloted with medications that have a similar pharmacological effect as their illicit counterparts. While there are currently no approved pharmacotherapies for stimulant use, research has demonstrated a number of stimulant medications that are promising substitutes for cocaine and methamphetamine use. Much like with opioid-focused pharmacotherapies, having a consistent and safe supply of stimulants can lead to improved health outcomes and will drastically reduce overdose risk. However, for a stimulant safe supply intervention to be a success, it must provide the high and performance-enhancing effects that people seek from the illicit market, which requires doses and user agency that trials to date have not provided. Conclusion: Efforts are needed to investigate the feasibility of pharmacological stimulant-based interventions that address safe supply needs. The promise of similar opioid-focused approaches in addressing both overdose-related risks and experiences related to vulnerability underscores the need to advance safe supply approaches targeted towards people who use stimulants. Given the current overdose crisis and rising stimulant use across North America, the implementation and evaluation of such novel stimulant-focused interventions should be a public health priority.

Safer opioid distribution in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…For the pilot program, hydromorphone tablets were used as they were legal, available, cheap and acceptable to a majority of opioid users. However, other formulations of opioids or even stimulant drugs could be dispensed as part of a safe supply program ( Fleming, Barker, Ivsins, Vakharia, & McNeil, 2020 ). And finally, in an environment where physical distancing is required as an infection control measure during COVID-19, the machine allows quick pick-ups that avoids any line-ups and does not require any person-to-person contact.…”

Barriers and facilitators to a novel low-barrier hydromorphone distribution program in Vancouver, Canada: a qualitative study

“…Amidst the continuing fentanyl-driven overdose crisis, there has been growing debate regarding the merits of providing a safe supply of pharmaceutical grade opioids to people at high risk of fatal overdose and who are not enrolled, or interested, in treatment ( Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs, 2019 ; Ivsins et al, 2020 ; Tyndall, 2018 ). The concept of safe supply is premised on the belief that offering a safer alternative (i.e., pharmaceutical opioids of known quality/quantity) to a toxic illicit drug supply will enable people who use drugs (PWUD) to eliminate or decrease their consumption of potentially toxic illicit drugs, thereby leading to reductions in overdoses ( Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs, 2019 ; Fleming et al, 2020 ). The feasibility and effectiveness of reducing illicit drug use by providing pharmaceutical-grade alternatives (i.e., diacetylmorphine and hydromorphone) was demonstrated by the former North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI) and Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness (SALOME) trials in Vancouver ( Oviedo-Joekes et al, 2016 , 2009 ).…”

Evolution of the Illegal Substances Market and Substance Users’ Social Situation and Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Similar measures were implemented elsewhere [29,30]. Additional measures were also proposed, such as improving addiction treatment access using telehealth encounters for OAT induction [31,32], substance use decriminalization [33], and safe supply of opioid [34] and other substances, including stimulants [35]. Further research should investigate their potential impact on substance use behaviours, substance use disorder outcomes, treatment retention, intoxications, and mortality, as well as long-term physical, mental, and social outcomes.…”