Healthy Debate • 23rd October 2024

Are Canada’s clinical trials in need of reform? Experts weigh in.

Private companies in Canada are recruiting thousands of often financially desperate test subjects each year to participate in clinical trials. If we want to ensure safer studies for participants and improve critical research, what is the best way forward?

Healthy Debate • 16th October 2024

‘I would still receive another rather than no vaccine at all’: Chronically ill people left with little choice

Canada will not be procuring the Novavax vaccine for the 2024/25 season, leaving those who would have preferred an alternative to the mRNA vaccine without another option.

Healthy Debate • 2nd October 2024

‘A plan to make a plan’: Experts speak out on B.C.’s involuntary care proposal

As B.C.'s provincial election looms near, Premier David Eby floats plans to expand involuntary care. Experts weigh in on the announcement.

Filter Mag • 17th September 2024

Oregon Drug Decrim Did Not Increase Overdose Deaths, Analysis Shows

A new study found that drug decriminalization in Oregon did not cause an increase in overdose mortality in the state—refuting a narrative often pushed by opponents of decriminalization. By tracking the influx of fentanyl into Oregon’s unregulated drug market, the authors of the study—which was published September 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)—were able to account for the increase in overdose deaths that coincided with the adoption of Measure 110. “I think this study...

Healthy Debate • 11th September 2024

Out of sight, out of mind? What the experts say we need to know about COVID-19 as we head indoors

Though we are not “post-COVID,” some say we are “post-crisis.” But the question remains: “What should we be doing about COVID now?”

Filter • 19th August 2024

Harm Reduction Community’s Diverse Efforts to Raise DULF Defense Funds

Since Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) cofounders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum were charged with criminal possession in May—having created a Vancouver compassion club to save lives—many people in the North American harm reduction community and beyond have felt inspired to help. They’ve found an eclectic variety of ways, from barbecues to BDSM, to show solidarity and raise substantial funds for the legal defense.

Healthy Debate • 17th July 2024

Telegraph hit job a prime example of how not to report on drug policy

The Telegraph story depicts Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in a way that maximizes the harm done to their most vulnerable sources. But as journalists, we don't need to punch down to do our jobs.

Healthy Debate • 19th June 2024

Involuntary drug treatment: ‘Compassionate intervention’ or policy dead end?

Involuntary treatment for substance use is being proposed as a solution to the toxic drug supply crisis in provinces across the country. But do programs like this work?

Healthy Debate • 2nd May 2024

Stitched Together

This series is a deep dive into the lives and working conditions of health-care professionals across Canada. It includes six profiles that explore the challenges, triumphs and priorities not only of our the health-care system as a whole, but of the workers who support it.

Healthy Debate • 13th March 2024

Setting the record straight: Medical experts debunk the biggest myths in their field

These days, it's hard to know what to believe. We polled a panel of health experts on the most pervasive misinformation in their specialty and asked them to set the record straight.

Healthy Debate • 12th March 2024

Waging war on our immune systems: Immunologist explains the horrifying toll of measles

Though the horrors of measles are too far back for many in North America to remember, there was a time when measles decimated entire populations. With measles making a comeback and vaccination rates that haven’t kept up, what can we expect as the virus continues to spread?

Filter Mag • 5th March 2024

Future of DULF Compassion Club Will Hinge on Judicial Review

A judicial review of Canada’s decision to deny a peer-led safe supply group an exemption to operate legally will begin on March 7 in the Federal Court of Canada in Vancouver.

Healthy Debate • 14th June 2023

Finding your energy envelope: Long COVID patients urged to ‘pace’ themselves back to health - Healthy Debate

For many long COVID patients, returning to activity can cause debilitating "crashes." But symptom management techniques like pacing can offer relief and may even help some patients slowly recover.

J-Source | News, research and commentary about jou • 12th May 2023

The toxic standards that have shaped coverage of drug use in Canada | J-Source

While a health crisis has unfolded, newsrooms have had to learn to do better. But the changes in framing haven’t always come fast enough or extended to the workers with lived experience

Healthy Debate • 12th April 2023

Blockchain and the future of medicine

Move over Bitcoin, blockchain is no longer just for cryptocurrency. The technology could improve transparency, trust and efficiency in health-care settings. But what exactly is blockchain and how do we make the best use of it in health care?

Healthy Debate • 29th March 2023

‘Technology to help bridge the gap’: Smart homes and sensors ease caregiver burden

Smart home technology has become ubiquitous in recent years. Now researchers in Ottawa are finding ways to use this same technology to aid health-care workers, family caregivers, and allow patients to age in place.

Healthy Debate • 8th March 2023

Model that predicts MS relapse highlights AI’s expanding role in health care

AI can be taught to do a lot. But can it help doctors make better clinical decisions? One MS clinic in Ontario is trialing an AI model that could help doctors determine how to treat their patients.

Healthy Debate • 25th January 2023

OurCare survey highlights lack of access to primary care

A nation-wide survey on the state of primary care in Canada illuminates pressing issues facing our health system. Dr. Tara Kiran and a team of collaborators with the OurCare project have launched an online dashboard with the findings.

Healthy Debate • 5th December 2022

Groundbreaking research into ME/CFS a pandemic ‘silver lining’

ME/CFS is a misunderstood complex chronic illness affecting more than 600,000 Canadians. For decades ME/CFS patients have been left without proper medical support. But now, with the wave of new post-viral illnesses from the COVID-19 pandemic, ME/CFS patients might finally see some answers.

Healthy Debate • 2nd November 2022

The Faces & Phases of COVID-19

The Faces/Phases Project is a portrait of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Through a series of data visualizations, we cover the first two years of the pandemic.