The United Nations (UN) estimates today that more than 240 million people in the world suffer from illicit drug use. This represents 4.7% of the world’s population. It’s in light of this that the UN has decreed June 26th, as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Why Have a Day Dedicated… Read more »
While a few states in the United States have already made the leap, like Colorado, California, and Oregon, the bill for the legalization of cannabis in Canada was tabled and will be in effect on October 17, 2018. It’s a hot topic at the moment. The legalization of cannabis is already raising a few… Read more »
The Addiction Cycle Addiction to something, whether it be to cigarettes, alcohol, other drugs, or to certain behaviours (shopping, gambling, pornography, etc.), is hardly ever experienced as something pleasurable by a person who suffers from addiction, but rather, as a form of enslavement. Consuming substances, or chronically repeating a behaviour, is no longer a choice… Read more »
Frank Gjata, inspired by the famous Great Dictator Speech written by Charlie Chaplin in 1940, wrote this speech imagining what message Chaplin might deliver to us if he were alive today. It’s been a long time since I addressed you, a very long time. It was a dismal time. I shared with you how greed… Read more »
My Strong Interest in Mental Health and Addiction I can still remember that morning in August 2014. For several weeks, I had been looking for a job that would fit my interest in mental health and substance abuse. I had been getting refusal letters every day, competition among nurses being so fierce. But that day,… Read more »
Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug among Canadians aged 15 to 24, and is more commonly used by youth in Canada than in any other country, according to a study done by UNICEF (2013)[1]. Even more alarming is the fact that many Canadian youth are not properly educated about the effects and harms… Read more »
It all began very innocently… I was fourteen when I smoked my first joint. I lived in an outlying region and it was our way of having fun among friends on the weekend. During the week, I studied hard, I got good grades, I was into sports and I had a good social life. I… Read more »
Responding quickly to youth and parents who require assistance is a major challenge for all partners in the youth drug-rehabilitation sector. Last year, the managers of Portage’s drug addiction rehabilitation program for youth at Lac Écho initiated discussions with counsellors, partners, youth and parents to develop a project aimed at improving access to youth services…. Read more »
I am not a Victim Only I am responsible for my actions and my decisions. I could forever blame my difficulties on my parents, the people around me, my mental health issues, my alcoholism, my lack of education, my lack of discipline or even on my broken childhood. But I’d get nothing good out of… Read more »
Innocent Beginnings I started using cannabis around the age of 12, to deal with all the anger and the feelings of injustice I felt about what was happening in my home country, Morocco. Smoking weed helped me make new friends and look cool. I started off by smoking once a week with older friends, and… Read more »
