I'm watching this now and so far it's really interesting: "What's going on with 'Populism, Sovereignty, and Democracy in Alberta?'" It's the University of Alberta's @jaredwesley.ca speaking at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, LIVE. Tune in, too, if that's up your alley:

This report builds on research demonstrating the harms resulting from laws/policies that punish people who use drugs by specifically examining the consequences of recent shifts in how police/prosecutors pursue and lay drug possession and trafficking charges. www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/its-not...

B.C. health authorities tried for four years to create a heroin compassion club whose members could purchase a regulated version of the drug without a prescription, an effort to reduce toxic-drug deaths that was ultimately derailed by political blowback www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/e0c398c...

“What happens is there is an attempt to pin the systemic problems throughout the entire health care system on transient events like a flu coming through town,” “The problem is not the flu. The problem is chronic fiscal constraint and failure to account for growth and infrastructure needs.”

🧵The flu is everywhere and our hospitals are overwhelmed with viral illness patients. At the same time, seasonal vaccination rates are declining in Canada. For The Conversation @amykaler.bsky.social @mmaroto.bsky.social and I wrote about why this is happening and what we need to do differently.

www.timescolonist.com/local-news/d... It sure wasn’t, nor by the people most affected.

Are Canada's ERs, and the health system more generally, ready for the big FIFA crowds? Mass gathering events underscore serious vulnerabilities in health care capacity in Canada, by Catherine Varner www.cmaj.ca/content/198/... via @cmaj.ca

Health Professionals’ Social Media Claims jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... "60.7% were in the bottom tier of very low or no evidence..." "How best to address the credibility-evidence gap? Professional self-regulation takes on increased importance because of the lack of strong alternatives." Agree

Drug checking should be funded and be an important part of public health infrastructure. So long as we continue prohibitionist policies in which the drug supply is unregulated and unsafe, we should at least try to be as aware as possible so that we can anticipate changes and keep people safe.

I don't know Edmonton's stats, but the mortality rate for overdoses at Calgary's Supervised Consumption Site was 0%, and the expected cost of responding to an overdose in a SCS is considerably lower than responding to an overdose in another public space.

www.cbc.ca/news/red-dee... #ableg

First Nations groups say they’re disappointed to be excluded from BC’s decision to end its drug decriminalization pilot, given the policy’s disproportionate impact on Indigenous people www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Increasingly, how people think about science is shaped by political identity. 79% of Democrats think public funding essential. Only 45% of Republicans agree. 65% of Dems think U.S. losing ground (true). Only 32% of Reps agree. #ScienceMatters

Another example of inappropriate political interference in professional self-governance in Alberta. Government is trying to increase its ability to control and direct civil society. Appreciate those in law (and medicine) who have been speaking out.

NEWS: the entire staff of the Alberta Law Foundation has resigned in the wake of Bill 14, which gives the justice minister more say in how the independent org operates. This is according to a board member who says she was ousted by the law society for speaking out edmontonjournal.com/news/crime/a...

"By ending the decriminalization pilot, the Province is failing to treat addiction as a public-health issue, not a criminal one, and is doubling down on policies that have already caused immense harm to First Nations." Grand Chief Stewart Phillip www.ubcic.bc.ca/ubcic_deeply...

I regret B.C.’s decision to end its decriminalization pilot and am disappointed the province has not released an independent evaluation. When governments change course on life-and-death issues, Canadians deserve to see the evidence. See more 👇

📣 New Report: Unpaid family caregivers are doing essential and often invisible work. Our new community report 🧪shares what caregiving looks like for families supporting people who use drugs in rural Western Canada. Read more: static1.squarespace.com/static/5ac64...

We are 🏳️‍🌈 SO EXCITED 🏳️‍🌈 to announce a new microgrant program aimed at powering-up grassroots advocacy in Alberta! We want to help local groups and organizations mobilize, speak up and take action to restore rights to trans and gender diverse Albertans. www.queermomentum.ca/microgrants

Allow me to reintroduce myself since I don't post here often: I’m Rollie Pemberton a.k.a Cadence Weapon. I wrote rap reviews at Pitchfork as a teenager and put out my debut album Breaking Kayfabe right after. I became poet laureate of Edmonton and won the Polaris Prize for my album Parallel World

As they say, *ahem*, some personal news: After 20 years in journalism, including a decade at CBC News, I'm moving on to something different. I’m launching my own independent practice as a Data & Storytelling Strategist. Yes, I'm giving up a stable job in order to hang up my own shingle. Why? 🧵👇

This is why I will never give up on fighting for safe drug policies and legal regulation of all substances. Danny. My baby should be 37 today. He lived to be 25. 💔💜 #DrugSky

This morning in Vancouver, Amber Bracken will take on the RCMP in a historic lawsuit brought by @thenarwhal.ca over her arrest while working in the field. @arnokopecky.bsky.social on why this lawsuit matters.

Here is the CBS Sunday Morning piece for which I was interviewed about findings from my book Coverage Denied. Health insurance barriers ration health care by inconvenience, imposing hurdles to get prescribed care with administratively burdensome appeals many can’t navigate. youtu.be/SRPOoPDN-7w?...

Opinion: Celebrating food bank numbers obscene and insulting calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu...

globalnews.ca/news/1... To be very clear 100s of acute care physicians are saying we are in a current state of CRISIS/EMERGENCY. Mitigating actions can be taken with provincial coordination measures that exist, and have been used before province-wide. 1/5

An Edmonton man says he's lost trust in Alberta's emergency healthcare system, and local police, after he called 911 for police and an ambulance, but an ambulance didn't arrive and police didn't assist. #yeg #Alberta #Edmonton edmonton.citynews.ca/video/2026/0...

Another First Nation is taking legal action against the Alberta government for its role in an anticipated separation referendum, the second to file this week edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...

"I’m going to pause here just to review: an institution that purports to be a university has told a philosophy professor he is forbidden from teaching Plato." surreal times dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

Alberta's measles outbreak topped 2,000 reported cases last year, and it's not over yet https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-s-measles-case-count-topped-2-000-last-year-and-the-outbreak-is-not-over-yet-9.7036485 More news → CanadaHealthwatch.ca 🍁

Crime rates near Toronto’s supervised drug consumption sites dropped A recent study revealed supervised drug consumption sites in Toronto have not led to an increase in crime – in fact, most rates dropped or even declined. www.thestar.com/news/gta/con...

Good insight here on why the decision to close SCS in Alberta is bad policy. edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...

Politicians & lobbying groups have been trying for years to prosecute the low-level dealers, plugs, and even just friends-who-use-together for homicide when someone dies from an overdose. ChatGPT coached a kid to take drugs with it for months then gave medical advice that was so wrong it killed him

Doctors working in Edmonton’s major hospitals are calling on the Alberta government to declare a state of emergency because there is no more room to safely accept patients. #ableg @theglobeandmail.com

Americans, when is enough enough?

So *what is* a public health approach to substance use? Our latest 🧪 paper provides a systematic review of academic and grey literature and outlines a conceptual framework to guide practitioners. link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-025-25402-4

Great news from Dublin: "Merchant’s Quay: Temporary supervised drug injection facility in Dublin to become permanent" #SCS #HarmReduction www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dubl...

Common myth: substance use causes homelessness. "Several studies have concluded that an area’s median rent correlates far more closely with its homelessness rate than factors such as weather, poverty rate, and rates of mental illness or substance use." #houselessness www.pew.org/en/research-...

EdifyEdmonton published a piece on Dr. Darren Markland. We miss you @drdagly.bsky.social Lotta Light, especially to his family & dear friends 💜💜💜 #DarrenMarkland #yeg edifyedmonton.com/people/profi...

NEW: A podcaster accused of harassing a former AHS director said he was hired by an Edmonton lawyer, court docs show. That lawyer has ties to Sam Mraiche, who owns companies at the centre of Alberta's procurement controversy. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... By @tuthanhha.bsky.social

this American mom expresses how I felt after my son died, and why I am in advocacy. “My son died because I believed in systems that were never designed to protect him. Worse, those systems convinced me that punitive drug policies were keeping him safe when they were actively putting him at risk. “

Alberta man asks province’s top court to fast-track appeal of supervised drug-consumption site closure after his near-fatal overdose, by @alannasmith.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com

“Most people who take prescription opioids must now take them under the supervision of a pharmacist,” is the subhead, a statement that is false in a very important way. 1/ www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...