After cigarettes and tobacco, alcohol has the highest morbidity and mortality of any drug of abuse. It is also legal. Recently in the news, Canada has shifted its approach from sharing what makes you at risk for addiction to what are the actual risks of drinking when compared to those that don’t drink.

Here we discuss the new low risk drinking guidelines for Canada, the medical professions involvement in addiction care, how health care providers can screen for alcohol use disorder, what’s involved in the assessment, approaches to detoxification, maintenance medications, therapies, and connections to resources.

We hope it inspires you to learn more about how to help people who want to reduce the harms of alcohol use.

Old low risk drinking guidelines

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-use/alcohol/low-risk-alcohol-drinking-guidelines.html#a2

New Canadian drinking guidelines

https://ccsa.ca/sites/default/files/2022-08/CCSA-LRDG-Update-of-Canada%27s-LRDG-Final-report-for-public-consultation-en.pdf

Approach to alcohol use from bccsu

https://www.bccsu.ca/alcohol-use-disorder/

Pdf document summary of addiction medicine approach to alcohol

https://www.bccsu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/AUD-Guideline.pdf

We also have numerous videos on the relevant therapies including motivational interviewing, CRA and CRAFT.

0:00 introduction

1:47 Addiction Medicine’s alcohol origins

3:24 Canadian centre on substance use in addiction (CCSA) guidelines

7:40 Lucky Bastard Distillery

12:10 Canadian drinking man meme

18:30 SBIRT (short, brief, intervention, referral to treatment)

19:09 CAGE Assessment

19:54 THE AUDIT (alcohol use disorder is identification test)

20:44 PAWSS: prediction of alcohol withdrawal severity scale

22:07 The 4 C's of addiction

27:55 The detoxification process

29:10 ‘White knuckling it’

30:45 AA and the acceptance of addiction medication

32:20 Gabapentin

33:58 The maintenance phase

34:57 GAIN (Global appraisal of individual needs) Assessment

36:20 The treatment phase

33:33 Summary

Featuring addiction psychiatrist Dr. Wiplove (Wip) Lamba, addictions case manager and former addict Jean-Paul (JP) Michael, along with their guests discuss all things related to substance use, addiction, addiction medicine, psychotherapy, harm reduction, treatment and recovery. Wip and JP share their motivation, curiosity, and passion for their craft. JP works on a daily basis in a renown inner city hospital in Canada's largest city. This work is separate from Wiplove’s clinical and academic work.

The content should not be taken as direct medical advice or clinical instruction.

#Lived experience

#pwid

#addiction

#recovery

#Captainhooked

#wiplove lamba

#jean-paul michael

#addiction medicine

#psychotherapy

#CCSA

#Alex Caudarella

#lucky bastard distillery

#SBIRT

#CAGE Assessment

#THE AUDIT

PAWSS

#The 4 C's of addiction

#white knuckling

#AA

#Gabapentin

#GAIN Assessment