"According to reports from the community, the coalition and a site visit by The Discourse, the sites appear to be surrounded by pooling water and there is evidence that other sections were at one time impacted by rainfall." words to the city from @nurseranger.bsky.social :

People who were living in tents on the street were displaced to a marsh. thediscourse.ca/cowichan-val...

I told you this would get unthinkably worse, that the unregulated drug supply would only get more volatile & dangerous, that this nightmare would never end until government makes the necessary market intervention & replaces the entire drug supply with regulated substances accessible throughout B.C.

‘No one in our community is disposable’: Island Health and community call on North Cowichan to rethink sheltering sites @thediscourse.ca #bcpoli thediscourse.ca/cowichan-val...

“Anti-Indigenous racism on rise in the Cowichan Valley” “From posts and comments on social media, to remarks made by fellow shoppers in local stores, to being shouted at from passing vehicles, the ­negativity directed at our ­citizens is unfounded and wrong” www.timescolonist.com/local-news/a...

Extremely disappointing to see the lack of accountability and compassion from municipal leaders here. “there's no correlation between our actions and the overdose events so no one's holding us to blame for that,” Counterpoint, saying “we’re not to blame” does not exonerate you. 🧵 #bcpoli

“Threatening to withhold this funding is not only unconstitutional, but also undermines the administrative autonomy of the courts” The Canadian Bar Association has written to Danielle Smith about her threats. #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

““POLICE” emblazoned in large white letters across the front of each — as they admonished those alleged to be involved in the complex corruption case and tried to assure the public that those arrested to do not represent policing culture.” www.thestar.com/news/gta/cop...

I'm not shocked. Honestly, it's a form of copaganda for the media to present police corruption and violence, which happens everywhere, as unusual and shocking. The details change, the level of violence and corruption changes, but it's always there.

In my dissertation I wrote about the concept of the Golden Cage. People who hoard power are desperately miserable, trapped by their own minds in a system built on the myth that any of this is good for anybody. Anyways he just tweeted it out

Thirty officers several police forces crime. chaos. drugs. disorder.

👀👀

In its new report on the Hastings forced evictions, the BC Human Rights Commissioner just identified a, uh, pretty major gap in oversight:

Former chief coroner Lisa Lapointe recently criticized B.C.’s drug policies, saying the province’s approach to the ongoing #ToxicDrugCrisis is not evidence-based. @michellegamage.bsky.social reports. #bcpoli

"The only people, frankly, benefiting from the current model are organized crime and some of these private residential treatment centres who are charging exorbitant amounts to families who are desperate to help their loved ones become well, without any evidence that those are effective."

It's so infuriating to see governments encourage the consumption of the drug most likely to result in violent crime and a whole host of other social problems, while punishing people who use other drugs. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. Not to mention ridiculously expensive for society.

What it sounds like to health practitioners when cops talk about drugs:

👏🏾Stop. 👏🏾Saying. 👏🏾Our. 👏🏾First. ✊🏾Nations. You haven’t done the work to consider us community. 👏🏾The 👏🏾Indian 👏🏾Act. Period.

“20 people unconscious each night” in Trail, B.C., as veterinary sedative medetomidine gains foothold in illicit opioid supply. Significantly stronger than xylazine, can cause cardiac/respiratory depression and deep prolonged sedation. vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/01/29/b...

Woke is back and better than ever

The BC Centre for Disease Control is warning of an increase in drug poisonings across B.C. due to changes in drug supply. My story from Dec on veterinary sedative medetomidine, detected in 38% opioid samples tested by BCCSU in Nov (gift link) www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1ce6625...

Medetomidine has also been detected in drug samples in Alberta. #ableg #yeg #yyc

🚨Province-wide drug alert in BC🚨 The BCCDC has issued an alert due to an increase in drug poisonings. “Opioids/down now often contain the sedative medetomidine.” Poster: towardtheheart.com/assets/uploa... Alert: towardtheheart.com/alerts #bcpoli

With Hootsuite making rounds for its contracts with ICE, here’s a longstanding one it had with Calgary police that looked an awful lot like scraping social media for facial recognition. They reeeeally didn’t want me to get these documents. drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-poli...

This is really alarming, given Danielle Smith's courting of Trump. What conversations have been happening behind closed doors?

WHO removing Us Flag

THEY KIDNAPPED A 2 YEAR OLD YESTERDAY www.startribune.com/agents-detai...

Opioid overdose, especially from potent drugs like fentanyl, hits very fast. If you’re in need of naloxone, you won’t be able to give it to yourself. “Never use alone” isn’t about socializing as much as it’s a safety measure. It’s pretty comparable to having a DD in your group on nights out.

Not using alone is an evidence-backed way to prevent fatal overdoses. - have someone nearby who will keep an eye on you - have naloxone - make sure your spotter knows how and when to use it Your opioid receptors don’t care who’s in the White House. Be serious. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Alberta Health Services docs obtained via freedom of information request show that up to 85 percent of provincial EMS dispatches for drug toxicity were not reported by the Alberta government, @drugdatadecoded.ca reports: drugdatadecoded.ca/up-to-89-per...

Someone should write a story tallying all the times that Poilievre, Smith and other conservative politicians compared Alberta vs BC drug poisonings using false numbers. Here’s what was actually going on:

I just thought everyone should see this

The facade of an international rules-based order is being destroyed because of the impunity enjoyed by powerful Western states, including Canada, which have repeatedly selectively applied human rights only when it benefits capitalist economic and state interests,

I am tired of people treating methadone like an unspeakable or dangerous thing it is literally just medicine that helps people

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

This is literally what I've been writing and podcasting about for years. I was planning to do an essay on this, but here's a 🧵. The main reason is psychology. Due to personal, family, and cultural histories, some people are inherently scared of the world.

Too bad there’s an error in this article & the reporter never reached out to us for comment. We did respond to Jeff Kibble, only he never got back to us. Kibble “apologized” publicly, then ignored our email response that we sent on Sunday night.

“What would happen if the “Radical Leftists” found points of connection within the conservative base that fostered mutual respect?“ you need to read this #cdnpoli

UBCIC’s statement is a vital reminder that Indigenous leadership, human rights, and evidence-informed public health responses must be centred in decisions that affect people who use drugs. We share their call for accountability, partnership, and policies grounded in care, not criminalization.

The HRNA stands with the UBCIC and echoes the serious concerns they have raised about BC’s decision to end the decriminalization pilot. We are grateful for UBCIC’s leadership in naming the harms of returning to punitive approaches amidst this ongoing public health emergency. #bcpoli #cdnpoli

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC President: “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.“ www.ubcic.bc.ca/ubcic_deeply...

“Everyone should be concerned that we were profiled and asked to leave for no reason.” Three Cowichan Valley residents say they were threatened with arrest at a public town hall featuring Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and local MP Jeff Kibble — because of the messages on their T-shirts.

hot news tip: fact check the “street value“ of seized drugs #cdnmedia

The First Nations Health Authority, a health system partner to the B.C. government, said it is disappointed that it was "not engaged in a decision that will disproportionately impact First Nations people, communities and families." www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Do Canadian MPs actually connect with the public on X? I looked at RTs and views for every tweet* sent by Liberal MPs yesterday Out of 46 tweets, 21 Liberal MPs racked up a combined 475 retweets 34% had zero RTs. Only 17% got more than 10 RTs 3 tweets accounted for over half of all engagement

The concept of posting “Canada is not considering a ban of X” as a QUOTE of your post condemning deepfake sexual abuse happening **ON X** of women and kids………….

SCOOP 🧵 The DORS app was supposed to keep people safe while using drugs at home. But in 4 years, it has activated just 51 ambulances. The app isn't used 41% of days. Meanwhile, the AB govt is dismantling the option that works: supervised consumption. 1/ drugdatadecoded.ca/overdose-app...

All the evidence always shows this

Add another one to the great big board of "Urban Planning Debates: Academic Research vs. Some Guy"