ACMT Symposium: Harm Reduction in the Management of SUD
April 3, 2025
Fairmont Hotel
Vancouver, Canada
#ACMT2025
Important Dates
Accepting Abstracts
September 1 – November 15, 2024
MTF Shark Tank Deadline
December 4, 2024
MedTox Case Panel Deadline
January 10, 2025
Open Mic Competition Deadline
January 10, 2025
Early-Bird Registration Deadline
February 21, 2025
ACMT Symposium: Harm Reduction in the Management of Substance Use Disorders (SUD)
Join the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) on Thursday, April 3, 2025 for the ACMT Symposium: Harm Reduction in the Management of SUD at the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver, Canada.
Harm reduction has become a key tool in managing substance use disorders (SUD), yet remains loosely defined. It encompasses various measures, including needle exchanges, naloxone distribution, safe consumption sites, and fentanyl test strips. While needle exchange programs have proven effective in reducing infections from intravenous drug use, the impact of other harm reduction strategies is harder to quantify.
Support for harm reduction varies among professionals and the recovery community, with its success depending on when and where the tools are used, the methods chosen, and the combination with other treatments. Different settings—emergency departments, ICUs, or outpatient clinics—may require distinct approaches.
Vancouver’s pioneering leadership in harm reduction makes it an ideal location for this full-day in-person symposium, which will explore harm reduction in detail, presenting the latest evidence and examining its application in special populations, healthcare settings, and recovery stages. Topics include integrating harm reduction with SUD medications and substance use education, inpatient high-dose methadone titration, and a case-based panel discussion on “Lived Experience.” The symposium will appeal to a wide range of professionals in medicine, including those in family medicine, emergency medicine, medical toxicology, addiction medicine, and beyond.
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze the evidence surrounding various harm reduction strategies in the management of substance use disorders, with a focus on their effectiveness across different settings and populations.
- Evaluate the role of harm reduction tools at different stages of the recovery process and identify how they can be integrated with other treatment modalities to optimize patient outcomes.
- Discuss the ethical and practical considerations of harm reduction practices, including the perspectives of healthcare providers, patients, and the broader recovery community.
Continuing Education: Continuing Medical Education (CME), Continuing Pharmacy Education (CPE) and Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) credits are available for this activity. It is expected that learners will receive up to 6.00 credits for learning and change.
Preliminary Agenda
All times listed in local, Pacific Time. Download the draft agenda.
| 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM | Optional Fieldtrip: Insite, Supervised Injection Site Those who register will be transported by charter bus from the conference hotel to Insite for this unique opportunity to witness harm reduction practices firsthand and explore the impact of North America’s first supervised injection site on the local community. | Purchase ticket Cost: $30 This opportunity is limited to #ACMT2025 Harm Reduction Symposium registrants only, and there are only 25 seats available on the bus, so be sure to sign up early! |
| 9:45 AM – 10:00 AM | Welcome & Opening Remarks | |
| 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Donovan Lecture | On the Streets with Evolving Polysubstance Use — The Rise of ‘Fentanyl-Plus’ and Its Impact on Mortality, Morbidity, and Harm Reduction This lectureship is supported by the Medical Toxicology Foundation through the Ward and Ryan Donovan Memorial Fund. For more info, please visit: www.acmt.net/donovan-lectureship | Daniel Ciccarone, MD MPH, Justine Miner Prof of Addiction Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, Univ of California San Francisco |
| 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Politics and History of Harm Reduction in Vancouver, Successes & Challenges | Patricia Daly, MD, Chief Medical Health Officer, Vancouver Coastal Health; Clinical Professor, School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada |
| 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM | Break (75 min) | |
| 1:15 PM – 2:00 PM | Lived Experience in Action: Harm Reduction and Recovery in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside | Guy Felicella, International Public Speaker, Drug Policy Advocate, Vancouver |
| 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM | Voices of Experience: A Discussion on Living and Practicing Harm Reduction | Moderator: Leslie Dye, MD FACMT FASAM, Medical Director, OneFifteen; Clinical Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, OH Panelists: Daniel Ciccarone, MD MPH, Justine Miner Professor of Addiction Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, UCSF, San Francisco, CA Patricia Daly, MD, Chief Medical Health Officer, Vancouver Coastal Health; Clinical Professor, School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Guy Felicella, International Public Speaker, Drug Policy Advocate, Vancouver |
| 2:45 PM – 3:30 PM | Integrating Harm Reduction with Prevention, Treatment, and Personal Accountability: Saving Lives Without Creating Pill Mills 2.0 | Leslie Dye, MD FACMT FASAM, Medical Director, OneFifteen; Clinical Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, OH |
| 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Rapidly Increasing Methadone Doses, Scaring Medical Toxicologists | Robert Cole Pueringer, MD, Medical Toxicologist and Addiction Medicine Specialist, Essentia Health |
| 4:00 PM – 4:15 PM | Break (15 min) | |
| 4:15 PM – 5:00 PM | Integrating Harm Reduction Approaches in Hospital Care: Inpatient Substance Use Policies | Moderator: Anthony Spadaro, MD, Fellow-in-Training, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Panelists: Gillian Beauchamp, MD, FACMT, FASAM, Program Director, Medical Toxicology Fellowship; Associate Professor, Lehigh Valley Health Network; USF Morsani College of Medicine, Allentown, PA Evan Schwarz, MD, FACMT, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA |
| 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM | Timing is Everything: Harm Reduction for Special Populations — An Interactive Case-Based Discussion of Who, When, and Where | Moderator: Ashley Haynes, MD FACEP, Medical Toxicologist, Addiction Medicine Specialist, Veterans Health Administration Panelists: JoAn Laes, MD, FACMT, FASAM, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Allina Health, Minneapolis, MN Timothy J. Wiegand, MD FACMT DFASAM, Director of Toxicology and of the Toxicology Consult Service, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY |
| 5:45 PM – 6:00 PM | Closing Remarks |