blog.catie.ca/2026/05/25/s... #Harmreduction Safer drug use distribution programs, often referred to as needle and syringe programs, prevent viral infections like hepatitis C and HIV, serious bacterial infections and tissue damage.

April 13, 2026 With more than 18,000 lives lost over the 10 years of the toxic drug crisis, we check in with @lesliemsth.bsky.social from Moms Stop the Harm to evaluate whether enough steps are being taken to stop the ongoing tragedy. @msthpetra.bsky.social www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

The path to stability looks different for so many. What’s problematic is when folks who didn’t need certain supports (e.g., OAT, counselling, additional community supports) portray their more minimalist approach as superior, with other pathways judged as weaker or worse— “that’s not real recovery”

Giving up on harm reduction, including consumption sites, is like giving up on CPR in favour of blood pressure meds. We need harm reduction and treatment. You can only die once! My interview with CityTV #yyc. youtu.be/WWwEYFDsgmk?...

Similarly, Canadians shouldn’t be okay with 18 per day, even if that’s down from the 23 during the pandemic. One death is a tragedy. So many hospitalizations, not even considering how many survive with permanent (hypoxia-induced) brain damage.

Putting out some feelers to my #drugsky and #addictionresearch folks (especially frontline workers, but #academicsky can totally chime in): how do you think leisure, in general, relates to PWUD? Trying to get outside of my experiences and even the lit, just to see what folks in the field have seen

In case you missed our most recent webinar "Drug Policy and People Deprived of Liberty", watch a panel of international experts discuss the impact of punitive drug policies and the need to guarantee high standards of human rights in prisons. Link here: 🔗https://youtu.be/gAoNtw2W8Bs

I'm late to the game on this one, but this is very interesting! As a community health student in this field, this is definitely a helpful snapshot of where we are in this moment. #drugsky

The moment I realized salary jobs almost never drug test while hourly jobs do, I saw the jig.

The push for involuntary treatment throughout Canada is terrifying. Not only is it a total violation of human rights, but it’s a colossal waste of money. People already struggle to access timely care when they want it. Let’s save our limited resources for people who are ready for treatment (1/2)

Very important court case. Worth reading @aivl.bsky.social filtermag.org/dulf-constit...

Here at day one of the 2025 Annual NL Centre on Substance Use conference. I hope some of my Canadian #drugsky peeps have had the opportunity to join us online or in-person! Hope to share some great KT stuff with you all <3

Hey #drugsky do you get as frustrated as I do by this flavour of moralizing resilience: celebrating avoiding opioids during a medical event as the correct thing to do in recovery? I hate the idea that "toughing it out" is more respectable that taking pain meds after a painful procedure (1/2)

A concise explanation of where we are with the continued escalation of the failed, endlessly harmful war on drugs #drugsky

Tucking this in my back pocket for the next time someone pushes back when I say that TWOD is literally just a workaround to make people of certain ethnicities illegal. It’s not the drugs they were going for, it was the people. Pearl-clutching more-so than paternalism (although they do coexist here)

Check out my recent contribution to the Impact Ethics blog (MUN Centre of Bioethics). Not my usual area, but a piece I wrote for a #healthmisinformation course. #healtheducation #healthethics #researchsky

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While this was written in the context of the persecution of unhoused folks, we hear the same rhetoric applied to PUD. They'll say, "they don't go into the treatment programs we paid for, advocate for forced treatment (despite us knowing that doesn't work) and, when all else fails (1/2)

I'm officially one month away from starting my PhD in Medicine (specifically Population Health and Applied Health Science) to finally dig deeper into substance use research. Any advice for a nervous doctoral student heading into a med school? #academicsky #drugsky #qualitativeresesrch

Wednesday's stigma webinar was a success! Over 230 people attended throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and beyond! I saw more than a few Maritimers present. Anyone interested in some handouts or slides? I'll post the recording here as well once it becomes available. #drugsky #addictionresearch

San Francisco has spent the last 3 years undoing any evidence-based drug policy in order to appease a very vocal group of uneducated but rich, fascist, right-wing losers (Sacks, Tan, Tandler, Shellenberger, etc). As everyone with understanding of this topic warned, San Franciscans are dying bc of it

87 people died of drug poisoning in #yeg in March 2025. The highest monthly total recorded. Although we saw a early spike in EMS calls at the end of February there were no efforts to warn the public or put in place any additional preventative measures. #ableg

Greetings #drugsky ! I'm doing a webinar on stigma (related to drug use and addiction) for the NL Centre on Substance Use this Wednesday at 12:00 PM Newfoundland time (10:30 AM EST) via Zoom. Sign up with the link below-- anyone is welcome to register! nlchi-nl-ca.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

That's a wrap on Toronto '25! Great time at #Congressh followed by meeting some interesting people like the very cool @unfinishedlines.club, people from Homes First and Parkdale Queen West Community Health. Thank you all for giving me knowledge to being back to NL #drugsky #academicsky

Very excited to come to Toronto to present my autoethnography this coming Monday afternoon! Thanks to the FHSS Congress and the Canadian Association of Leisure Studies (CALS) for this opportunity!

Involuntary drug or mental health "treatment" only causes harm to those it purports to help, to essentially disappear an undesirable group. It does not prevent public drug use, it does not cure mental illness. #Canada #CdnPoli #Politics #HarmReduction #DrugPolicy #MentalHealth

#HarmReduction #SaveLives harmreduction.org/about-us/pri...

I have been in Mauritius for the last two weeks with my (Mauritian) partner to visit her family, but this time I was incredibly privileged to meet people whose work involved substance use and people who use drugs. I have learned more than I could have imagined (1/2) #drugsky

More info to share! I've been invited to present at the 2025 Social Sciences and Humanities Congress for the Canadian Association of Leisure Studies. Remember that addiction autoethnography I'm trying to get published? I'm presenting it! See you in early June, Toronto! #drugsky #qualitativeresearch

I am still new to Bluesky but excited to delve deeper and share more often here! I hope to make a contribution in the near future with an autoethnographic work on opioid addiction in the wake of a career-ending injury, written as an interuppted body narrative 🤞 #AcademicSky #Qualitative #Drugsky

Here in Canada, daily OD deaths decreased slightly (23 in 2023 vs 21 in 2024). We still have SO much work to do, but my recent experience attending a provincial MH&A conference seemed to show openness for collaboration, harm reduction, and listening to people with lived experience 🤞#drugsky