Corrections Canada to distribute items for 'safe snorting' in federal prisons - National Post

Drug snorting. Corrections Canada has confirmed that paper straws will soon be distributed in federal prisons to facilitate safe snorting of drugs. (File photo) Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/PostmediaArticle contentThe Correctional Service of Canada has confirmed that paper straws will soon be distributed in federal prisons to facilitate safe snorting of drugs.

This week a social media post included photos of a memo distributed to Corrections staff stating that paper straws were being newly “introduced” for “safer snorting” and “intended for inhaling substances in powdered form or inhaling vapour from heated substances.”

The explanation provided was that paper straws will “reduce harm” by lessening the risk of internal nose cuts that could occur from homemade or plastic straws and reduce infections from diseases such as hepatitis B and C, while “recognizing that overdose and toxicity risk remain.”

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Meanwhile, according to the memo, foil strips are to be distributed “for safer smoking.” So were drug-testing strips for fentanyl, benzodiazepine and xylazine.

The memo states that these items are being introduced “in response to increased inhalation, smoking and snorting substances among federal inmates” adding that “harm reduction must adapt to reduce overdose risks, prevent the transmission of infectious diseases and align with current evidence-based practices.”

The new harm reduction items if found on their own, should not result in criminal charges, but the memo states that if they are “found alongside illicit substances or unauthorized paraphernalia, standard operational procedures … must be followed.”

In a statement emailed to National Post by Correctional Service Canada communications officer Laurence Côté, the CSC confirmed that the document shown in the social media post is genuine and “was developed … to provide information to all employees regarding the expansion of harm reduction products.”

The CSC stated that its health services include “harm reduction measures” designed to prevent and minimize “harms related to substance use.”