The Province has still not approve this training facility. Westbank was there but didn't take interviews. Chief Rai tapped Westbank founder Ian Gillespie on the shoulder and said, "Thanks for working with us."

ABC has always been a party of strategic lies thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022...

The Justice Institute of British Columbia is issuing a warning ahead of a Vancouver city councillor’s motion to ask for more than $1 million in funding for a new police training facility. www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

read the first peer-reviewed research paper using data P.O.W.E.R. collected and analyzed via @ijdrugpolicy.bsky.social: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #drugsky #harmreduction @pivotlegalsociety.bsky.social @hracollective.bsky.social @harmreductionintl.bsky.social

NEW: Read an explainer on the projected impacts of FIFA 2026 on Vancouver themainlander.com/2026/02/24/a...

Latest from FHS PhD candidate @tsk.bsky.social and collaborators on the public health impacts of transitioning away from decriminalization practices on populations already facing multiple challenges. #SFU #SFUFHS #pwus #ToxicDrugCrisis #Vancouver

I realize it’s not easy or comfortable to think deeply and seriously about this mass death event that people don’t give a fuck about, but that’s your job. Struggling to find the right words is appropriate. Don’t repeat the government’s alibis for their murders

The Tyee asked the health ministry for an explanation as to why it was acceptable to withhold this data during a public health emergency that had killed thousands of British Columbians. It’s been four weeks and we still haven’t heard back. @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2026/02...

new: open access research in @ijdrugpolicy.bsky.social illustrates some ways that policing in Vancouver has worsened the toxic drug crisis — including alarming examples of police blocking overdose responses & raiding a food donation tent: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @sfu-fhs.bsky.social

Island Health and local groups are urging North Cowichan to reconsider "uninhabitable" shelter sites in Somenos marsh. Advocates warn that recent displacements are linked to health risks and a spike in overdoses. They’re calling for safer, accessible alternatives. #NorthCowichan #IslandHealth

"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...

Sharing this study we did, released in the Fall, charting the impacts of drug possession & trafficking laws in ONT on health, shifts in enforcement/prosecutions & people’s perspectives on what's needed at this juncture to overhaul Cdn drug laws #drugsky #onpoli @hivlegalnetwork.bsky.social y.social

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...

2022: vancouversun.com/news/local-n...

the drug war is international and so too must be drug war resistance and divestment briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/vie...

"It’s a classic example of governments using words to not mean what they actually mean" @dsdp.ca filtermag.org/bc-governmen...

Last week, BC NDP Premier Eby made misleading claims about Sublocade. A decade into BC's toxic drug emergency, there is a heightened risk when government leaders promote this type of disinformation. It should not be acceptable. Read in more detail: themainlander.com/2025/12/10/v...

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.

POWER members responded to at least four drug poisonings in a 2.5 hour window on Nov 19. The driver of these drug poisonings is prohibition. The unpredictability of the drug supply is entirely predictable — the federal, provincial & municipal policies in place ensure it bsky.app/profile/andr...

Agree or disagree, I hope people realize that this is just a piece of paper with Government logo on it; it's not legislation, it's not a peer-reviewed paper or clinical guideline; it's one random dudes thoughts and it's frankly insulting to assume that clinicians should accept it at all

There is a lot here in this analysis. I am paying close attention to the removal of "deemed consent" from the Mental Health Act.

NEW analysis in The Mainlander: The politics of the Mental Health Act amendments in Bill 32 reflect a trend of the BC NDP circumventing court rulings under Premier Eby’s leadership. themainlander.com/2025/12/05/b...

On Nov 17, North Cowichan displaced ~75 unhoused residents from Lewis Street encampments to a marsh without the promised Ramada shelter open or toilets available. NEW substack collab by me & @pearlysalts.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/jessicap...

"We can’t prescribe or police our way out of this crisis. We need housing, we need a regulated, safer supply, we need to bolster our voluntary treatment options:" globalnews.ca/news/1155470...

As DULF's compassion club was forced to close, its operators worked to get its 43 members legal Rx alternatives, successfully transitioning only 2 or 3 – a point that piqued the interest of the judge, who asked about the barriers to safer supply programs www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

"strengthening access" to apprehension and indefinite detention bsky.app/profile/sobi...

no one involved in this case disputes DULF has saved many lives. shutting down initiatives to prevent consumption of poisoned drugs leads to more preventable deaths. sad to see the law used as a cudgel to justify killing people through government inaction & indifference

an unexpected and momentary sense of hope listening in to the people's filibuster against the 2026 budget that threatens to hollow out the city further

the cop city budget vancouver is set to spend half a billion on policing next year (probably more): www.policeoversight.ca/p/cop-city

from the judgment: these are the institutions of Vancouver. police abruptly raiding the successful project as DULF was transitioning members off to close down; the Health Ministry sanctioning more death based on moral panic; a health authority without resistance drugdatadecoded.ca/court-finds-...

Full article is up. “There is no issue that the Crown has proven the essential elements of the offence of [possession for the purpose of trafficking],” Murray said. “However, this case is not that straightforward.” Read more at @pressprogress.ca pressprogress.ca/founders-of-...

"Justice Murray repeated several times that Nyx and Kalicum’s intent was clear: they sought to save people’s lives in the face of a public health emergency."

Founders of Vancouver’s Drug User Liberation Front Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalinin have just been found guilty of drug trafficking. Justice Murray rules CDSA exemption didn’t include procurement & distribution. “There is no doubt all of DULF’s actions were for one purpose.” @pressprogress.ca

📣 DULF found guilty for life-saving compassion club 📣 But WAIT! Not so fast… drugdatadecoded.ca/court-finds-...

Saving a life is more important than policing small amounts of drug use, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled last month. @michellegamage.bsky.social reports. #canpoli #ToxicDrugCrisis

“The optics are, oh, the police get everything they want.” Here’s my story on the Vancouver Police Department asking for a $50 million increase to their 2026 budget while others city departments are facing challenges — and how at least one board member seemed aware of the conflict it would create.

"When BC authorities declared these mounting deaths a public health emergency, mainly exploiting the situation to push the same, tired teetotal interventions that created this mess, it was just too much to stomach" #drugsky www.thenation.com/article/soci... @thenation.com

The order that protected Moccasin Flats is an important human rights precedent toward the decriminalization of people living outdoors—but a new injunction has been handed down "Prince George prepares to displace residents of Moccasin Flats" www.policeoversight.ca/p/prince-geo... @bccla.bsky.social

#BREAKING: Sleydo' Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko will not serve prison time after a BC Supreme Court judge handed them a suspended sentence in Smithers court today for their role in opposing the #CoastalGasLink pipeline conflict. More to come in @thetyee.ca. #bcpoli

“What does it say to Canadians, to international observers and to Indigenous people, that victims of this hideous racism will be sent to jail to serve further time, notwithstanding this misconduct.” www.cbc.ca/news/indigen...

Judge: “The troubling thing about this prosecution is that everyone knew what was happening… It seems like these two [gestures to defendants Nyx and Kalicum] are being hung out to dry. As soon as politicians started complaining, all of a sudden VPD—which before was fine—suddenly is not fine.”

Jeremy and Erys kept people safe with their actions. Politicians who prevent access to safe alternatives to toxic drugs are the ones who should be charged. #DULF founders are heroes to me and many other moms!

> Read about how DULF's co-founders discussed their compassion club with the VPD. VPD reps offered their support for the project. Then the VPD abruptly raided the compassion club and arrested its co-founders: thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

The Vancouver Police Department is projecting to be over budget by the end of the year by nearly $8 million, according to a report heading to the police board Thursday. www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

VPD has zero credibility in reporting violent crime statistics. By selective & sensational use of stats, they helped their friends get elected to city council. Now Task Force Barrage is out of gas & VPD wants more money. dailyhive.com/vancouver/va...

Bombshell reporting by my @ctvnewsvancouver.bsky.social colleagues here This reflects very poorly on the Vancouver Police Department, which isn't being forthcoming about questionable assault numbers continually promoted ahead of the last municipal election www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...