The Deadliest Drug: Alcohol kills nearly 500 Americans every day. Confronting heavy drinking could be one of the best ways to improve health and save lives, by @levfacher.bsky.social @isabellacueto.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/05/12/a... via @statnews.com (part 1)

From Bill Kaufmann calgaryherald.com/news/lawsuit...

You know what would solve your “crime treatment zone”? SCS, housing, drop-in spaces, stop the sweeps…. SMH www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I applaud this MLA for taking a stand and sm tired of provincial NDP positions on drug policy more focused on electability than the evidence and saving lives.

"a surge that coincided with the closure of Prairie Harm Reduction's supervised drug consumption site." DON'T do two years of research to figure out this puzzler OPEN a Drug Consumption Space NOW #skpoli www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

New 🚨 "The Victoria SAFER Initiative: A community-based prescribed safer supply program using fentanyl formulations in Victoria, BC" "Our findings demonstrate that prescribed fentanyl options assisted in reducing reliance on the unregulated drug supply." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We have a new paper in @cjphrcsp.bsky.social describing our efforts to improve substance use care in hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from 2018-2024, from the clinical frontlines and community without institutional policy support: link.springer.com/article/10.1... 1/

If you are in Nova Scotia and are over 50, the health authority mails you a free test every two years. But fewer than half the people who receive the kits return them. It's a great program. Just do the test and mail it back.

Decriminalization worked. B.C. killed it anyway The province’s drug decriminalization experiment lowered arrests and reduced harm—but it failed a different political test breachmedia.ca/decriminaliz...

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

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

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...

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

"Dr Wieman also expressed frustration at what she said was the hijacking of the narrative over B.C.'s pilot to decriminalize simple drug possession noting that it was introduced, in part, to address the overrepresentation of First Nations people in the justice system as a result of systemic racism"

this is an important statement & it cuts to the heart of the policy failure BCs decriminalization pilot didn't fail b/c it was a bad idea, the BC NDP and david eby were not willing to defend it First Nations peoples in BC died at ~7x the rate of the rest of the population in 2024

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 👇

Its really essential that people read the full statement and reflect on it And think honestly & bravely on what our emergency is each of us and all of us are involved in this, we are all the public Its oue emergency There’s no Them Just us ~ we are responsible to each other Please read this

"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...

📣 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...

Kylie's amazing #DisHist #histmed book Jim Crow in the Asylum is out today. Its also open access, so sharing the link for anyone interested in the histories of race and disability, systemic racism in medicine, histories of madness and asylums, histories of the US South, and more

Postmedia, which recently seized full control of print media in NS (happened in AB decades ago), is driving these wedges into communities that have traditionally been highly sympathetic to poverty. This will manifest as fearful news stories that create danger out of thin air. Like the story above.

“Injectable opioid agonist therapy (iOAT; IV diamorphine or hydromorphone)… may be more effective than oral OAT alone… in improving treatment retention, reducing illicit opioid and cocaine use, and decreasing interactions with the criminal justice system” 1/ canjhealthtechnol.ca/index.php/cj...

“Both diacetylmorphine and injectable hydromorphone supplemented with methadone showed favourable retention [for opioid use disorder treatment] compared to methadone and buprenorphine” link.springer.com/article/10.1...

“Heroin-assisted treatment was introduced in Switzerland in 1994 and comprises the prescription of diacetylmorphine (heroin) for patients with severe opioid use disorder. Provision … is limited to specialised treatment centres, 22 of which operate today.” link.springer.com/article/10.1...

“…we suggest there was a major disruption in the illicit fentanyl trade, possibly tied to Chinese government actions, that translated into sharp reductions in overdose mortality beginning in mid- or late-2023 and continued into 2024 across both the US and Canada.” www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...

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...

In this @bmj.com opinion piece, we propose that infrastructural support, mundane process improvements, and better use of available capacity could deliver more value than some of the headline-grabbing "solutions." We propose a learning system model to help. www.bmj.com/content/392/...

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

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

This is Carter’s first appointment to public office. Her reporting for Fox News and other primarily right-wing outlets has focused on transnational drug-trafficking organizations, work she's described as “mapping the enemy.”

“B.C. government unclear on whether contentious drug decriminalization policy ever really existed“

4/ The dismantling of vaccines contravenes the same fundamentals of public health. We get vaccinated not just for ourselves but to protect others. Public health principles do not change. Those who failed to uphold these principles during Covid, who cry wolf now or remain mum have much to reckon.

3/ They framed approach to public health as differing values. Rather the battle was always about upholding the principles of public health (as a collective public good we all contribute to) versus a constant onslaught that prized individualism and guarding individual privileges above all.

2/ But the truth is there‘s a direct line from then to now. Public health relies on a fundamental principle: it is collective. Instead all these experts, propped up wishy washy “You do you” health, and fueled the notion that the public had lost faith in public health. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

🧵This needs to be said. There were many in ID who during Covid agreed along with the current leaders of NIH & FDA in their naysaying, and collaborated with them (remember urgency of normal?) who are now being quoted in the press saying, “By golly we don’t agree now!” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...

Overall, Canadian police reported noticeably more drug-impaired and alcohol-impaired driving after 2018. But the growth seemed related mostly to enhanced enforcement and pandemic disruptions, rather than to legalized cannabis. theconversation.com/after-canada...

if everyone is allowed to pick up their prescription of the same chemicals from the pharmacy and just leave with them and do with them as they please, how can anyone possibly determine which people are deserving of contempt and exclusion?

The requirement only applies to people who previously used unregulated drugs Those People are the ones we must force to undergo public displays of ritualized punishment. public drug use is bad so if you have access to prescribed alternatives you must consume them in public

For more on how the concept of 'narcoterrorism' is shaping the war on drugs — and being weaponised in contemporary geopolitics — explore insights from our recent event:

Evidence from British Columbia shows decriminalisation reduced police interference with access to harm reduction — a key public health objective. Rolling it back didn’t correct failure. It reversed progress. Full study:

Talking with my colleagues from around the world and thinking, as I do often these days, about this quote from my colleague @gregggonsalves.bsky.social, which articulated something that I think many of us know but is rarely said with this clarity. www.thenation.com/article/acti...

‘Narcoterrorism’ is back in official discourse across the Americas – with deadly consequences. 🎯 Watch our event for #HumanRightsDay (EN/ES/PT) with UN & civil society experts on how to defend human rights amid this new ‘war on drugs’  https://f.mtr.cool/cwblwjuhbe

Would some reporter please ask Hegseth if he plans to bomb our way to a healthy society? If not, why not?

“You don’t solve public health problems with bombs,” Tree added. “Otherwise we’d be bombing tobacco and alcohol executives.”

Indeed. These are no more “narco-terrorists” than Al Capone & his bootlegging associates were “alco-terrorists.” Prohibition-era gangsters were capable of extreme violence, but labeling them terrorists & hitting them with bombs would’ve been a silly way to address our insatiable demand for alcohol.

42 people died from unregulated drugs while in a medical facility between January 1 2023 and August 31 2025 in British Columbia Here is the list. Remember when people were complaining about drug users in hospitals ?