An EUDA delegation is concluding a four-day visit to Canada today, hosted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA). EUDA Executive Director, Alexis Goosdeel and CCSA Chief Executive Officer, Dr Alexander Caudarella, reinforced the collaboration between the organisations through high-level discussions on drug policy, substance use care and emerging trends. Topics on the agenda included cannabis initiatives, impaired driving and harm reduction services.
Alexis Goosdeel presented the mission of the EUDA as strengthening EU preparedness on drugs through four key functions: anticipate, alert, respond and learn. He outlined the agency’s forward-looking 'Acting today, anticipating tomorrow' approach, whereby it assesses future drug-related challenges, issues early warnings, analyses risks and needs and promotes competence development and best practices.
The organisations visited the Ottawa Hospital and Paramedic Service, followed by a meeting at Health Canada, where they engaged with policymakers and healthcare professionals on substance use care in Canada. The delegation also travelled to Montreal for meetings at CACTUS, a community-based harm reduction organisation, which partners with DASLabs to analyse risks and ensure timely responses. Here, the experts visited a supervised drug consumption site and the government-owned Société Québécoise du cannabis (SQDC), responsible for managing recreational cannabis sales. Canada's law legalising recreational cannabis use has been in effect since October 2018.
Back in Ottawa, the delegation learnt about Canadian initiatives to improve substance use healthcare and expand access to care through digital health innovations. A key point for discussion was also the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs, a topic of growing interest both in Canada and internationally (see EUDA FAQs). In this context, the delegation visited the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre and a psychedelic store.
The mission concluded with a tour of the Senate of Canada and with discussions on future EUDA-CCSA collaboration.