I had no idea in Florida when someone is getting the death penalty that their family is not allowed to attend the death. The victim's family is allowed to watch them die, but not their own family. That makes me so sad. America is friggen weird with all things death. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...

The free birth movement spreads medical misinformation to separate pregnant people from health care services. Once expecting parents are isolated they subscribe. The FB creators have made $13 million in revenue since 2018. The Guardians' full investigation: www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

The Guardian's reporting on the free birth movement is A++. FB encourages people to give birth with no medical interventions, even if the baby dies. If the baby dies it 'was meant to be' and therefore the FB folks have no legal responsibility. FB has made $13M. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

"DULF helped them stabilize." "When you witness the horror of someone you love dying, you don't want to see that ever again." "Having a safe alternative [to street drugs] is a solution to that." #BritishColumbia #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Courts #Policing

The flushing seems excessive 😅 You can just put something on the lid so the rat can't escape and then leave it alone. It'll go back down the toilet on its own That's what I did, anyways 🤷‍♀️

You know I never thought I would need this information but I am glad I now have it.

A bunch of people dressed as elves and santas rob a metro grocery store, the third largest grocery giant in Canada. They take between $3,000 to $5,000 worth of food and donate it to food banks. montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

The global economy will never exist without fossil fuels! We can build more pipelines! Oil will always be valuable! .... just like the people will always need coal.

Scary shit: chronic wasting disease found in 2 more deer in the Kootenays. Test and deer you hunt before eating and be careful when slaughtering too. The condition is always fatal in deer. We really, really don't want this transferring to people. news.gov.bc.ca/releases/202...

This story will never not be funny thebeaverton.com/2023/12/parl...

UBC has an online class to teach people in public-facing jobs how to better engage with people dealing with mental health or substance use challenges. Class is $1,500 for two courses. Seems like it could be beneficial if employers footed the bill? extendedlearning.ubc.ca/programs-cre...

People living in Port Alberni don't have an ICU and may be diverted out of town for hospital care if their family doctor isn't working out of the West Coast General Hospital. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

20 B.C. hospitals operated beyond 110 per cent capacity last year. thetyee.ca/News/2025/12... Reporting by @tyolsen.bsky.social and @michellegamage.bsky.social @thetyee.ca

Over the last decade, B.C.’s hospitals have consistently operated over capacity. That means people admitted for overnight care are regularly cared for in hallways and nooks, and staff are caring for more patients than they should be. @michellegamage.bsky.social and @tyolsen.bsky.social report.

“New data provided to The Tyee reveals that seven B.C. hospitals operated at more than 20 per cent over capacity last year.” Reporting by @michellegamage.bsky.social and @tyolsen.bsky.social thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...

It is a choice to keep drugs unregulated. The government chooses to prohibit drugs, which allows for black markets to flourish, which creates a more potent and dangerous unregulated supply. The government could regulate drugs and undercut the unregulated market, but chooses not to.

I feel like drivers have been getting more dangerous over the last couple years. I didn't used to almost get hit by cars all the time, now it's a near weekly occurrence. No right on red would help slow down traffic and improve pedestrian safety.

"Over a 36-hour period beginning Nov. 18, more than 80 people suffered illicit drug poisonings on those few blocks in Duncan." The spike is linked to medetomidine, a powerful veterinary anesthetic. It's the latest substance added to the unregulated street-drug supply. @andreawoo.bsky.social explains

RSF "bombed a kindergarten and the hospital where victims were brought for treatment in southern Sudan on Thursday, killing at least 50 people, including 33 children." "'[L]ow estimate' is that 60,000 people have been killed" "in the past 3 weeks." #Sudan #UAE #USA #Healthcare #Genocide #Military

Drug laws exist to protect people from the harms of drugs. But what happens when more than 50,000 die despite those laws? Two Vancouverites worked outside the box, and outside the law, to try and save some of the thousands of their neighbours who were dying. I break it down for CBC's Front Burner.

IT IS ME. ON THE CBC. As a reporter my articles get republished across Canada but somehow being the guest expert on a full podcast just feels really special. What a nod from fellow badass team of journalists that I look up to and admire.

Holy cats I'm on CBC's Front Burner! Explaining drug laws, the toxic unregulated drug supply and how two locals stepped in to try and save lives with a compassion club for a national audience. This is so dang cool. Listen here, or on any podcasting app: www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...

Hugely exciting news!!! One of my favourite podcasts which I basically listen to every day wants to have me on as a guest to speak about the DULF court case and the ongoing toxic unregulated drug overdose crisis in B.C. Episode hopefully dropping tomorrow so STAY TUNED. I'm over the moon. AHHHH!

great explainer by @michellegamage.bsky.social for @thetyee.ca on the constitutional challenge brought by the Drug User Liberation Front, which is being argued in court now: thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...

Being wet, cold, stressed and not having anywhere warm, clean and dry to rest means when people in Vancouver's DTES get an infection it can be incredibly difficult to recover, even with the help of antibiotics. My latest for @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...

As Winter Sets In, Infections Creep into the DTES via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...

Earlier this fall, the founders of a drug compassion club called DULF were convicted of drug trafficking. Now they're back in court, mounting a constitutional challenge that could change Canadian drug laws. @michellegamage.bsky.social explains what it all means: thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...

DULF is "arguing [..] the government violated Section 7 and Section 15 of its members' Charter rights." "7 prohibits the state from depriving people of their rights to life." "15 says all people must [..] have equal protection and benefit from the law." #BritishColumbia #Canada #Drugs #Courts

We should be celebrating how there is a new shot which offers 6 months of protection against the transmission of HIV, the virus which has already infected approximately 40 million living people and taken the lives of 44 million more. Instead... Trump. theintercept.com/2025/12/01/w...

"Instead of protecting minors, age verification laws spike usage of virtual private networks and send users—including, potentially, minors—to unregulated or unmoderated sites that don’t care about complying with U.S. or UK laws." www.404media.co/missouri-age...

“This is a calamity beyond words. This is a horror beyond words. This is a travesty,” Eris Nyx told the court. “This is gutting my community and killing everyone I know.” What would you do if thousands of your neighbours were dying preventable deaths, every year? thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...

Founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum were cross examined in the first week. They spoke about the work they did to follow all of the rules possible and their hopes that this would get gov onside as a partner, working together to save lives. Unfortunately that didn't work out, so here we are.

New article for @thetyee.ca just dropped: DULF's latest court case explained. What is a constitutional challenge? What did I see in court for the first week? How far could this case go? What kind of shot do they have? It's all in there, dive in. thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...

Regulation saves lives. When drug regulations aren't strict people die. They don't have to die. Alcohol, opioids, stimulants: regulations save lives. In Canada we only strictly regulate alcohol and thankfully a tainted supply doesn't exist. We could regulate more. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Thread on what I've seen as a journalist for @thetyee.ca this week at DULF's constitutional challenge. They're arguing closing their compassion club put marginalized people at risk of overdose and death. Explainer article coming early next week.

Been covering DULF's constitutional challenge for @thetyee.ca this week. Crown prosecutors have tried to poke lots of small holes in what founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum were doing. Nyx and Kalicum have largely defended themselves saying they were doing the best they knew how at the time.

I'm writing about wounds today and I will never stop giggling about how my partner was a paramedic for 7 years before he realized the plural of pus is not "pussy." There's 7 years worth of paramedic reports out there with "pussy wounds" written on them. Why am I 10 and that's so dang funny.

Cutest protest I've ever seen! Still, serious and important. Removing baby changing tables is a slap in the face to parents, especially when other departments (police, fire) are getting a big boost. If the budget passes we'll give the VPD around half a billion every year. But not change tables.

“We need the city to invest in children and families. Instead, this budget hands the VPD a $50 million increase, while I am told that maintaining baby change tables is too expensive and will be cut. I can’t accept that.” - Margie Sanderson, Women Transforming Cities member. Protest at City Hall tmo

Fact check: nicotine patches may not actually treat Long COVID and there isn't a lot of research done on the long-term health risks for non-smokers using nicotine patches. www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/...

"Our tongues aren’t just wet flavour rugs." That's all. Okay well actually "They’re covered in tiny wart-like structures." Fun story on how you taste everything, all over your tongue. With some excellent, toe-curling phrases thrown in. www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/...

"[N]umber of sex workers using the Kingsway drop-in space [has doubled], which is likely due to the overall reduction in services for sex workers in Vancouver." "For the funding to be at risk in this moment in time feels particularly dangerous to me." #BritishColumbia #Canada #SexWork #Nonprofit

Vancouver’s last drop-in space for sex workers is facing an uncertain future as the city changes how it funds the non-profit. @michellegamage.bsky.social reports. #vanpoli

Vancouver's Last Sex Worker Drop-In Centre May Shutter in Spring thetyee.ca/News/2025/11... @michellegamage.bsky.social @thetyee.ca 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca 🍁

Vancouver's last all-night drop in centre for street-based sex workers is facing an uncertain future as the city considers changing how its funded. If the KCS closed there would be no other drop in centres for sex workers, anywhere in the city. That's dangerous. thetyee.ca/News/2025/11...

The City of Vancouver is changing its funding model for the city’s last drop-in space for vulnerable sex workers, leading to concerns it may have to close. Kingsway Community Station supports some of the most marginalized people in our city. by @michellegamage.bsky.social thetyee.ca/News/2025/11...

Really alarmed to see any government use a notwithstanding clause. That should be for extraordinary circumstances, not for punishing trans kids. Incredible explainer from @melwoods.me thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025...

Mayor Sim making a completely nonsense claim that spending an extra $5.6 million on police reduced overdoses. Several experts reply: "lol what? Absolutely not." Will Sim claim VPD reduced rents next? Or made groceries more affordable? Whatever to justify paying them nearly HALF A BILLION every year.

"Dr. M.J. Milloy, of the B.C. Centre on Substance Use said research studies show anti-crime initiatives can increase the risk of fatal overdose by making people less likely to use overdose prevention sites or methadone clinics." www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...