canadaโs prison needle exchange program is a helpful case study in how crucial reforms can be undermined through bad implementation, punitive barriers, conditioning entitlement, or policy sabotage. it provides helpful lessons for other areas of drug policy & law reform-open access in Health&Justice
"thirteen principles for supporting peopleโs agency, self-determination, dignity of risk, and general well-being."
#ResistCriminalization
#AbolitionNow
Go see my sister Sarah in this rendition of Anne of Green Gables โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ love her and this review!!
โseveral provincial legislatures are resorting to policies like forced treatment to deflect attention away from their own failures that created these crises in the first placeโ
Great article by @drugdatadecoded.ca & @zoedodd.bsky.social
Sask, pay attention! #skpoli
breachmedia.ca/media-politi...
YOUR BUSINESS' MOST VALUABLE INVESTMENT A Conversation with Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Dan Williams Event Sponsors Downtown Recovery Coalition Date and Time Monday May 12, 2025 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM MDT
A woman in a moustache taped to her face holds a sign of her head that says Bill 53 as a human rights violation. Above that sign is a building sign that says Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. Itโs on a busy downtown street.
A woman holds a sign of above her head with one Reidโs harm reduction is not the enemy. She has a moustache taped onto her face. Her black hoodie reads harm redux punks.
A person holding a sign above their head that reads BILL 53 is eugenics, and the person is dressed all in black with a moustache taped to their face.
This morning, everyoneโs least favourite Downtown Revitalization Coalition hosted โA Conversation with Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Dan Williams.โ
But right outside, @4bharmredux.bsky.social held a protest all dressed in Dan Williams moustaches, and they deserve a round of applause. 1/
As someone who outsources his thinking to the bluesky brain trust, this is very frightening to me
Ontario strategy to dismantle supervised consumption sites (SCS): fund a vaguely defined service to โreplaceโ SCS, shut down SCS on basis of proximity to kids, get sued and lose, defund SCS anyway, defund sterile supply distribution to amplify damage. Evil.
This is a big deal for CSAM.
Unfortunately, nothing in the Liberal platform suggests theyโll protect politically besieged supervised consumption sites. Not one mention of harm reduction period.
Their new drug policy ideas amount to empowering cops to tear open mail now with a โgeneral warrant.โ
New position statement from the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine urges all levels of government, healthcare providers, and community stakeholders to support the expansion and destigmatization of supervised consumption services.
csam-smca.org/wp-content/u... #cdnpoli
April 22 and the supervised consumption sites that are supposed to become โhart hubsโ have still not received their funding and are NOT up and running. Province was still messing with the agreements trying to get rid of harm reduction supples distribution and exchange from any partnered site.
๐ PODCAST: Meet the corporate lobbyists connected to Pierre Poilievre and his inner-circle
DeSmogโs @geoffdembicki.bsky.social is pulling back the curtain on the influence of corporate lobbyists on Pierre Poilievreโs Conservatives
Patients, medical orgs and physicians are speaking out to say health care should not take a backseat in the federal election campaign, @kkirkup.bsky.social reports. Health care is not listed as a topic in this week's leaders' debates
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Lessons Learned From Drug Decriminalization Remedies in British Columbia
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
The entire National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) team at SAMHSA was terminated today.
Do not listen to the platitudes of this administration when they say they care about drug overdose, addiction, mental health, or suicide.
Does this man understand where the drugs killing people even come from? Shocking how he wants to wage war on those of us who have spent our lives supporting people - wants us fired and to escalate even more deaths.
the role of fossil capital in the rise of the far right in the US - and its consequences - are difficult to keep track of given the sheer pace of change. still, we should.
all faculty and eligible university workers should pile into AAUP
Canadian Blood Servicesโ partnership with a private company that pays for plasma puts the ethics and safety of our blood system at risk, critics say.
Canadaโs tainted blood scandal warned against paying donors for blood products. So why are paid-plasma clinics popping up across the country? www.thestar.com/business/can... @thestar.com
๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐น๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐: CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter ๐
I have responded to 100โs of ODs but the ones not in sites are traumatizing to respond too for you and the person oding. Theyโre scary when someone is blue or grey and unresponsive.
They will train you at the pharmacy too
THREAD๐งต
The 68th UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) took place in Vienna last month
Key takeaways:
๐นColombia's historic resolution to review the drug control system
๐นGrowing discussions around coca/cocaine regulation
๐นThe belligerent & obstructive new US delegation
1/
Colombiaโs role is crucialโhaving suffered decades of drug war violence, corruption, and environmental destruction. They are now leading the call for a rethink of the global drug control system.
7/
Those outside of the field might not appreciate how notable it is that the US voted *against* the draft resolution: 'Promoting comprehensive, scientific evidence-based and multisectoral national systems of drug use prevention for children and adolescents' at CND 2025 docs.un.org/en/E/CN.7/20...
I bet everyone in that room wished there was an eject button they could press and launch this man out of the room.
New piece: We need to dig into the nationalism and protectionism that is abound in Canada right now and follow the money. Politicians are just fast-tracking the oligarchy.
tinyurl.com/bddf5j6r
There is NO emergency response table in Toronto. No emergency response table in the province. Ford government closed the sites and thatโs it. Funding has not flowed to orgs for their โhubsโ and staff that would have responded laid off. This is an ABSOLUTE DISASTER
One of the busiest sites in the city closed their doors, - the Works run by Toronto public health, yesterday my friend found someone oding in the area in a lane way. He saved this personโs life!! Overdoses in a shelter where a site closed. Staff in drop ins are being trained to respond.
If you live in Ontario near any of the closed supervised consumption sites we need you to get trained in overdose response. Yesterday a colleague found someone overdosed in a door way, tried to revive them but they were already dead.
๐ญ
โItโs classist. Itโs racistโ: Ontarioโs overdose death capital braces for more loss: ricochet.media/justice/heal...
