This report is the result of a mandate from the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) [Québec’s ministry of health and social services] to produce a knowledge synthesis focused on nine courses of action which pertain to “illicit” psychoactive substances and which have not been implemented, or have been implemented only on a limited scale or as a pilot project in Québec.
The nine courses of action are: Education programs for overdose prevention and management with naloxone; Supervised consumption services; Prison syringe exchange programs; Low-threshold housing programs; Crack smoking equipment distribution programs; Programs for prevention and substance analysis in festive environments; Commissions for the dissuasion of drug addiction; Cannabis ticketing schemes; Drug treatment courts. These interventions have the potential to amplify the beneficial effects and to reduce the negative effects of our current system for controlling what are referred to as illicit psychoactive substances.
The analysis presented is not intended to provide conclusive responses to the issues tied to the use of illicit psychoactive substances, but rather to inform the much needed discussion about this subject.