Alberta & BC both had record breaking death tolls in 2023. Conservative politicians said Alberta's abstinence model would save people & BC's harm reduction programs were killing us. Truth is, both provinces have an unregulated toxic drug supply. Both still waging drug

We spent 1h on Crackdown podcast analyzing the death of decrim in BC, but really it's all about the comfortable return to punishment. That's it. Since Confederation, Canada loves to lock people up, banish them, scoop them, block them from society. crackdownpod.com/episodes/episo…

UPDATED
#Drugpoisoning deaths in AB by year
2016 - 688 (NDP govt)
2017 - 862 (NDP govt)
2018 - 956 (NDP govt)
2019 - 800 (NDP/UCP govt)
2020 - 1,391 (UCP govt & closure of SCS)
2021 - 1,634 (UCP govt)
2022 - 1,732 (UCP govt)
2023 - 2,050 (UCP govt)

10,113 deaths

🧵 Alberta government just today updated their mortality statistics for Dec-Feb. Imagine that.

TOTAL DRUG POISONING DEATHS EXCEEDED 2,000 IN 2023 FOR THE FIRST TIME, AT 2,005. 1/

This government has done nothing to stem the carnage. We have gone from 2 people dying a day to 8-10 ppl dying a day since Ford took office. Sylvia Jones has ignored repeated requests across the province to address this crisis of toxic drug deaths.

Stigma kills and does so often.
Imp. to remember overdoses happen daily & drug related deaths (ie. ODs, lack of medical care resulting in sepsis) are frequent and will continue to increase across NL. Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Gonna really need someone to explain to me how drug decriminalization 'failed' when actual evidence says otherwise.

And I don't mean some bullshit argument about visible poverty actually caused by a housing crisis.

On May 28 join people from all over the province travelling to Toronto for Supervised Consumption Sites. In ON 8-10 people are dying a day. The Ford government Sylvia Jones have not taken this emergency seriously. Two sites closed, Windsor and Sudbury cos of no funding.

Thanks Minister Whiteside. I really felt that hope and empathy the three times my colleagues and I had to run down the street with an oxygen tank today. The stories of recovery really helped.

This is ridiculous - why now Minister Jones? This exemption was submitted 2 years ago. My guess is that you are trying to distract from our crumbling healthcare system, and the fact that over 2500 Ontarians die from fentanyl overdoses every year, while your govt does nothing

It must be a tough time to be CMOH given his report from last month indicates the evidence/recommendation directly contradicts this position:
ontario.ca/files/2024-04/…
I'm sorry to see Dr. Eileen de Villa resign from her position. Her advocacy has been strong on the drug poisoning crisis.

My friend that died recently was in near constant pain because they didn’t want to give her pain meds despite her having multiple bouts of cancer. She had been fighting multiple types for close to 13 years. 13 years of pain because of arbitrary rules.

HOW has the Alberta government not yet released drug toxicity mortalities for December?

The eventual 2023 tally will exceed 2,000, and the death rate will likely surpass BC — both for the first time.

They are delaying those headlines til summer.
healthanalytics.alberta.ca/SASVisualAnaly…

'Frantz Fanon, who practised in colonial French Algeria, reminds us in Medicine and Colonialism that, although we doctors present ourselves as healers of “the wounds of humanity”, we often instead serve as...an integral part of colonisation, of domination, of exploitation'

From the gutting of drug decrim in BC to the Good Samaritan law—piecemeal drug law reforms that don’t address actual sources of harm (criminalization, prohibition) create and sustain harms. Paper with EVDM, SKHC and JBM as part of HIV Legal Network study in Social & Legal Studies. 1/11

A long post. But I’m filled with sadness, despair at some politicians and deep disappointment in City of London Councillors who would not even vote to give SafeSpace London a chance to speak on May 28 (because that’s all this vote was… a vote on whether Safe Space could speak to

“Although data suggest that rates of drug use in Oregon have remained fairly stable… fentanyl makes for a much deadlier drug supply… homelessness has risen rapidly, drug use that used to occur behind closed doors now happens in plain sight.”

My latest. latimes.com/opinion/story/…

This is an important question from SafeSpace London

For the 7 councillors who voted against even giving Safe Space a chance to speak to council …. I will quote one city councillor and ask “WHAT IS THE PLAN???”

What is the plan for these women now?

Yeas: (7)
A. Hopkins
C.

Today, Joseph Friedman, PhD, MPH and I are in the Los Angeles Times highlighting how recriminalizing drugs in Oregon was plainly anti-scientific.

“Our task is to resist the temptation to cave to panic and instead commit to evidence-backed solutions.” latimes.com/opinion/story/…

An important thread from Gillian Kolla, PhD responding to National Post opinion columnists Zivo and Finkle whose careers seem to be contingent on printing made-up stories about people who use drugs.

Gillian’s thread is intelligent and exposes the moral panic that is an underlying