Epidemiologist, physician and public health expert Dr. Mark Tyndall has dedicated his career to studying HIV, poverty, and drug use in multiple places around the world, starting with Nairobi, and now in Vancouver. An early advocate for harm reduction programs, Mark was at the forefront of North America’s first legally sanctioned supervised injection facility, INSITE, established in Vancouver in 2003. A proponent of evidence-based public health policy and interventions, Mark's work advocates for a safer drug supply including through the MySafe opiod vending machine. You can learn more about his work here and follow Mark on twitter here.
We talk about the stigma toward people using drugs that is built into the legal and healthcare systems, including the lack of trust and autonomy for people accessing prescription hydromorphone. We talk about the harms of prohibition and how this approach fuels the overdose crisis.
Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.