It's a hard reality that mental illness and substance use often coincide. Combine these factors with poverty and social marginalization, and you have the snowballing problem known as "concurrent disorders." Dr. Bill MacEwan has spent the last 20+ years working with patients in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood that is home to around 20,000 people with almost 25% of the people suffering from mental illness. He's also the medical lead for the city's Downtown Community Court psychiatric teams.  Host Faydra Aldridge speaks with Dr. MacEwan about the intersection of mental illness, drugs, and the criminal justice system.

Additional Resources: 

• Dr. Bill MacEwan Bio
• Mental illness and significant cognitive impairment among marginalized adults in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
• Profound suffering at the heart of our beautiful city seems to defy all attempts to relieve it
• The Hotel Study: Multimorbidity in a Community Sample Living in Marginal Housing
• Building Community Society - for more details about next steps
• Visions Journal: Concurrent Disorders (2004, Vol 2 (1))
  
• Homelessness, Mental Health and Substance Use: Understanding the Connections (Canadian Institute of Substance Use Research)