RedZone Podcast

Welcome to a special two part special two part episode of the RedZone podcast. We sit down with Dr.Paxton Bach, an addictions medicine specialist from the BCCSU, and leading expert to explore what tools we have in the toolkit to address the opioid crisis.   Is the traditional medical model for delivering addictions medicine care, really  not a structured model at all? In Part 2, Dr.Bach weighs in on how fragmented episodic addictions care is failing all stakeholders and what needs to be done ABOUT Dr.Paxton Bach MD, MSc, ABIM, FRCPC Paxton Bach MD, MSc, ABIM, FRCPC is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a general internist and addiction medicine physician at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC. He additionally serves as the Co-Medical Director for the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, and is the Director of the BCCSU Clinical Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. Dr. Bach is certified as a specialist in General Internal Medicine through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and an Addiction Medicine specialist through the International Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Board of Preventative Medicine.

Welcome to a special two part special two part episode of the RedZone podcast. We sit down with Dr.Paxton Bach, an addictions medicine specialist from the BCCSU, and leading expert to explore what tools we have in the toolkit to address the opioid crisis.  From safe supply a new lo acting injectable formulation of suboxone, we look at recent developments within the Canadian context and the BC  landscape, as well as some of the real world considerations when deploying these tools on the frontlines.   ABOUT Dr.Paxton Bach MD, MSc, ABIM, FRCPC Paxton Bach MD, MSc, ABIM, FRCPC is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a general internist and addiction medicine physician at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC. He additionally serves as the Co-Medical Director for the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, and is the Director of the BCCSU Clinical Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. Dr. Bach is certified as a specialist in General Internal Medicine through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and an Addiction Medicine specialist through the International Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Board of Preventative Medicine.

DR.ZIVA COOPER, PHD Director, Research Director UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative Associate Professor Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior Dept of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA  Dr. Ziva Cooper is the Director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative in the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Department of Anesthesiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine. Her current research involves understanding variables that influence both the therapeutic potential and adverse effects of cannabis and cannabinoids through double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. Current funded projects include 1) understanding differences between men and women in their response to the abuse-related and pain-relieving effects, and the role that circulating hormones and endocannabinoids contribute to these differences, 2) the potential for THC and CBD to reduce reliance on opioids, 3) impact of cannabis use on HIV-associated inflammation, and 4) the effectiveness of cannabidiol to address symptoms associated with rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Cooper served on the National Academies of Sciences Committee on the Health Effects of Cannabis that recently published a comprehensive consensus report of the health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids. She is past president of the International Study Group Investigating Drugs as Reinforcers, a Board Director for the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, an Associate Editor of The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and is on several Editorial Boards of journals including Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research and Neuropsychopharmacology. FURTHER READING SCIENTIST RECEIVES $3.5 MILLION NIH GRANT TO STUDY PAIN-RELIEF AND CANNABIS * https://newsroom.ucla.edu/dept/faculty/scientist-receives-3-5-million-nih-grant-to-study-pain-relief-and-cannabis UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative * https://cannabis.semel.ucla.edu/

ABOUT TERRY LAKE  Terry trained and practiced as a veterinarian and taught animal health technology before entering public life as an elected representative. He served as councillor and then Mayor of the City of Kamloops and then was elected Member of the Legislature for the riding of Kamloops North Thompson in 2009. He served as BC Minister of the Environment from 2011-2013 and Minister of Health from 2013-2017.  He was awarded the Canadian Public Health Association Public Health Hero Award in 2017 for his groundbreaking work on the opioid overdose crisis. He is a recipient of the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Achievement Award and the British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association Award of Merit. Terry was VP of Corporate Social Responsibility for Hexo Corporation, one of Canada’s largest cannabis producers from 2017-2019. Terry and his spouse Lisa have three grown daughters and live in Kamloops, British Columbia.

ABOUT HON. SHEILA MALCOLMSON-BC MINISTER OF MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTIONS   Sheila Malcolmson was elected as MLA for Nanaimo in a by-election in 2019, and re-elected in 2020. She is the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions as well as the Vice-Chair of the Cabinet Working Group on Mental Health, Addictions and Homelessness and a member of the Cabinet Committee on Social Initiatives. Sheila previously served as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment. Prior to her election as an MLA, Sheila was elected four times to the Islands Trust Council, serving six of those years as Chair, where she championed fair ferry service, marine safety and oil spill prevention. She signed a government-to-government protocol between the Snuneymuxw First Nation and the Islands Trust – establishing a relationship of respect and cooperation in planning, land use management and heritage conservation. In 2015, Sheila was elected as federal MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith. As an MP, she was a leading advocate for solutions to vessel abandonment, oil spill prevention, and women's equality. Prior to entering public life, Sheila worked for Energy Probe, and the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. She also served as an advisor to the Saskatchewan Electrical Energy Options Panel and Queen's University Environmental Policy Centre, and was a board member for the Conservation Council of Ontario and the BC Sustainable Energy Association.   A Pathway to Hope: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/BCMentalHealthRoadmap_2019.pdf [https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/BCMentalHealthRoadmap_2019.pdf] Stop Overdose BC: https://www.stopoverdose.gov.bc.ca/ [https://www.stopoverdose.gov.bc.ca/]