Thousands more Canadians received substance-related hospital care during the COVID-19 pandemic than in the previous year, disproportionately effecting men and people from lower-income neighbourhoods, a study revealed. In the first 7 months (from March to September 2020) of the outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, up to 81,000 Canadians were hospitalized due to harm caused by substance use, representing an increase of about 4,000 cases compared to the same period the year before. The numbers released Thursday in a report (pdf) by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is based on data provided by experts from across the country. Emergency department (ED) visits for harms caused by all substances declined by 5 percent (from 186,529 visits in 2019 to 176,902 in 2020), while hospitalizations rose by 5 percent (from 76,948 in 2019 to 80,954 in 2020). ED visits and hospitalizations for “any …