2025 ACMT Symposium | Harm Reduction in the Management of SUD

April 3, 2025
Fairmont Hotel, Vancouver Canada

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.

Learner Objectives

After attending the event, participants should be able to:

• 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. These credits are available for an additional fee. Click here for more info.

Questions?

Please write to ACMT at events@acmt.net

Preliminary Agenda | April 3, 2025

All times listed are in local, Pacific Time.

7:00 - 8:00 AM PT 

Optional Fieldtrip: Insite, Supervised Injection Site

9:00 - 9:15 AM PT

Welcome & Opening Remarks

9:15 - 10:15 AM PT

Donovan Lecture

Daniel Ciccarone, MD MPH, Justine Miner Professor of Addiction Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, UCSF, San Francisco, CA

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.

10:15 - 11:15 AM PT

Politics and History of Harm Reduction in Vancouver, Successes & Challenges

TBA

11:15 - 11:30 AM PT | Break (15 min)

11:30 - 12:00 PM PT

Lived Experience in Action: Harm Reduction and Recovery in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

TBA

12:00 - 12:45 PM PT

Voices of Experience: A Panel on Lived Experience in Harm Reduction

Moderator: Leslie Dye, MD FACMT FASAM, Clinical Professor, Emergency Medicine, Assistant Medical Director, Wright State University/Boonshoft School of Medicine, OneFifteen, Dayton, OH
Roy Purssell, MD FACMT, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia; Medical Lead, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control

12:45 - 2:15 PM PT - Lunch Break (90 min)

2:15 - 3:00 PM PT

Integrating Harm Reduction with Prevention, Treatment, and Personal Accountability: Saving Lives Without Creating Pill Mills 2.0

Leslie Dye, MD FACMT FASAM, Clinical Professor, Emergency Medicine, Assistant Medical Director, Wright State University/Boonshoft School of Medicine, OneFifteen, Dayton, OH

3:00 - 3:30 PM PT

Rapidly Increasing Methadone Doses, Scaring Medical Toxicologists

Robert Cole Pueringer, MD, Medical Toxicologist and Addiction Medicine Specialist, Essentia Health, Duluth, MN

3:30 - 4:15 PM PT

Integrating Harm Reduction Approaches in Hospital Care: Inpatient Substance Use Policies

Moderator: Anthony Spadaro, MD, Fellow-in-Training, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers, NJ
Ashley Haynes, MD FACEP, Medical Toxicologist, Addiction Medicine Specialist, Veterans Health Administration, Andover, KS
Robert Cole Pueringer, MD, Medical Toxicologist and Addiction Medicine Specialist, Essentia Health, Duluth, MN
Timothy J. Wiegand, MD FACMT DFASAM, Director of Toxicology and of the Toxicology Consult Service, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY  

3:30 - 3:45 PM PT - Break (15 min)

4:30 - 5:15 PM PT

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, Andover, KS

Registration Rates

Registration includes:

• Access to the live in-person event on Thursday, April 3, 2025

• Access to the on-demand recording for 90 days after the event

• Access to the speaker slides

• Continuing Education credits are available for purchase for an additional fee. Click here for more info.

Early-Bird Rate

Early-bird rates expire at midnight on FEBRUARY 21, 2025. Fees increase to the Regular Rate after this date, no exceptions.

ACMT Membership

ACMT Members receive a discounted rate. Interested in becoming an ACMT Member? Contact our Membership Team at membership@acmt.net. Learn more at: www.acmt.net/membership

Refunds and Cancellations

Event registration cancellations received on or before February 17, 2025 (2/17/25) will receive a full refund less a 8% processing fee. Cancellations received between February 18, 2025 and March 18, 2025 (2/18/25-3/18/25) will receive a 50% refund. Cancellations made on or after March 19, 2025 (3/19/25) will not receive a refund. All Continuing Education registrations will be refunded in full less an 8% processing fee regardless of date.

All cancellation requests must be made in writing and emailed to: events@acmt.net. No telephone cancellations will be accepted. A refund that results from a cancellation or change to your registration will be returned to the original payer and in the original method of payment.

Pending review, limited exceptions will be made based on need and circumstance and must be submitted in writing to events@acmt.net. Because each exception must undergo a review and approval process, we ask in advance for your patience.

Questions?

For any questions, please email us at events@acmt.net.

Continuing Education

Continuing Education credit for this activity is available for an additional fee. 

Accreditation is provided by AKH Inc., Advancing Knowledge in Healthcare, and registrants will be able to claim up 6.0 credits, commensurate with their participation. 

Available Continuing Educations Credits:

• Continuing Medical Education (CME)
• Continuing Pharmacist Education (CPE)
• Continuing Nursing Education (CNE)

Purchase/Claim CE