Special episode! On March 10th, CoRE published a paper that the UCP then used to justify shuttering Supervised Consumption Sites. But there's some big problems with that paper & how it was spun. We sat down with 3 experts to get to the bottom of it! youtu.be/mRtvTHcDR6g

here's a little thing I wrote back in 2024 about how the provincial government allowed disinformation to drive their drug policy choices thousands of people died #bcpoli #SafeSupply free-futures-society.org/2024/04/25/a...

Wednesday at 8! Special Episode! The UCP’s “Centre of Recovery Excellence” (CoRE) published a paper that’s being used to justify shuttering Supervised Consumption Sites in Alberta. But the quality of the paper is dubious at best & we’ve got three expert professors to explain!

Alberta is at a turning point, and staying informed shouldn't feel like a full-time job. Forward Weekly is your antidote to the political chaos. Every Sunday, Forward Weekly will deliver the roundup you actually need, plus original progressive commentary. forwardweekly.ca/

SCOOP: New details about the facial recognition bodycam project by Edmonton police — including that the AI model was provided by an Israeli company whose technology has reportedly been used for mass surveillance in Gaza. www.cbc.ca/9.7157991

Hungarians showing how to win big in an unfair election: organize AND protest AND vote AND demand profound change.

This man is not threatening or harming anybody. It says so. Perception of safety has taken over as safety itself in Calgary. But it’s unaccompanied by education of how people end up unhoused. CBC is inverting who is unsafe in this scenario. An editor asked for this story, then gave it a headline.

calgarysun.com/news/... Physician intimidation comes in many ways... I have had colleagues warn me many times "Paul watch your back, powerful people are unhappy with your advocacy"... 1/5

The Harm Reduction Nurses Association Condemns Decision to Close Supervised Consumption Services in Alberta Read our statement here 👇👇👇 #abpoli #onpoli www.hrna-aiirm.ca/2026/03/27/h...

As the parent of a child with severe disabilities, this demonstrates how callous our provincial government are. I don’t care if you’re right or left - this is cruel. But then again we had to take them to Court for keeping only disabled kids at home during a strike: edmontonsun.com/opinion/tait...

I just updated my spreadsheet I've diligently kept since September 2021, tracking the initial vs updated fatality statistics each month. The government is still making updates back to November 2023 - two and a half years ago. Do. Not. Trust. The. Initial. Reports. 3/

We unequivocally denounce the Government of Ontario’s decision to end provincial funding for Consumption and Treatment Services and order site operators across Ontario to draft wind-down plans to close by June 13, 2026. Read the full statement: www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/hiv-leg...

Scoop. Unpaid Subcontractors for Recovery Centres Say UCP Abandoned Them via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2026/03...

The Ontario government’s intensifying “war on drugs” is fuelling an overdose crisis and other preventable harms in cities across the province. amnesty.ca/press-releas...

Supervised consumption services are evidence based, compassionate, and essential. Removing them will cost lives — but together we can push for change. Join us in urging Premier Ford to reverse the decision to close supervised consumption services: RNAO.ca/policy/actio... #HarmReduction

No. No. Nine times no! Five very smart Albertans on why we need to call out these 9 referendum questions for what they are. And why we all have a role to play in speaking out. #ableg #abpoli #AlbertaUnbound #cdnpoli #SenateofCanada

Inconclusive findings about the impact of the closing the Red Deer OPS shouldn't be used to guide policy in Ontario or Alberta. #ableg edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...

So it turns out that decision-based evidence-making is not only at risk of major flaws, but also a risk to our health. edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...

Closing Supervised Consumption Services Will Cost Lives, Premier! The @rnao.ca “is urging Premier Ford to reverse this decision. For the sake of those at risk, nothing else will suffice.” Please sign this Action Alert urgently! #onpoli #cdnpoli rnao.ca/policy/actio...

The Manitoba government promised Canada's first Indigenous-led supervised consumption site during its first term and now Premier Wab Kinew is backing away and offering no timeline. On this week's Truth & Politics we discuss this lack of timeline and more.

🇨🇦😬 Fighting misinformation and disinformation needs to be a national priority in Canada. Alberta is barrelling towards referendums on immigration and separation and there's no sign our leaders are taking the threat seriously. 🤠 My latest column: daveberta.substack.com/p/fighting-m...

If anyone had any doubt that the corrupt Alberta government is steering the teardown of harm reduction across the country, Doug Ford spelled it out for us this week. Here’s a look inside the wrecking-ball AB ministry and its private-sector friendships in BC: drugdatadecoded.ca/alberta-gove...

The Alberta government is allocating $7.5 million to create about 100 secure beds in hospitals throughout the province to accommodate people detained under the province’s controversial involuntary treatment program. @brettmckay.bsky.social with the @theijf.org reports. #abpoli

Health experts across the country are warning that closing supervised consumption sites will cause a massive increase in public drug use. And with Medetomidine now present in street supply and Narcan having no effect on it, it also means more deaths. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

To recap: Danielle Smith's UCP want to: 🔴 force you to undergo involuntary addictions "treatment." 🔴 prevent you from securing lifesaving gender-affirming care for your child. 🔴 severely restricted your access to medical assistance in dying. Takes the compassion and care out of compassionate care.

SCOOP: Two companies involved in building some of Alberta's addiction recovery centres are mired in litigation, including accusations of forgery on one side and allegations of intimidation involving Sam Mraiche, of MHCare www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... By @tomcardoso.bsky.social and friend

“the ban covers more than 200 books, including graphic-novel versions of classics such as Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian opus The Handmaid’s Tale, and George Orwell’s 1984.” #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...

one of the things ive been thinking about as part of my dissertation is the transformation/limitations of the "review" (particularly in health) as a methodology in the digital age when so much historic knowledge remains undigitized, especially internationally LLMs would seem particularly vulnerable

“This is a report that has been produced by a Crown agency of the government, … by people who have key roles in creating the policy that this Alberta government is banking a lot of its reputation on.” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Technically, you don’t even need to look at the methodology of this ‘study,’ because the whole thing reeks so badly of conflict of interest, data manipulation and misinterpretation that none of it is worth considering on methodological grounds. But all the same! drugdatadecoded.ca/centre-of-re...

Here I’m criticizing the Alberta government’s ‘study’ on its own supervised consumption site closures by the merits of its *corruption alone* Someone more qualified should examine its methodology. Knowing this government, I expect it’s very bad. drugdatadecoded.ca/centre-of-re...

"After years of mass fatalities during a toxic drug crisis, researchers warn that sometimes the population at risk can shrink. When thousands of people die, fewer people remain in the statistics." “You can’t die twice.” @reclaimcollective.bsky.social substack.com/home/post/p-...

The authors want to claim that closing SCS didn't cause deaths *without citing* the landmark study from Toronto showing that SCS reduced deaths in neighbourhoods that contain them by 67% vs neighbourhood that don't! How do you square that? Well, bad science. 8/ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

That's not only disingenuous. This is a *government study.* Saying they simply receive provincial funding is a choice that degrades the very notion of arm's length research. But some of these authors have grown awfully comfortable with conflicts of interest, so this shouldn't be surprising. 5/

So CoRE published a 'study' using data collected at supervised consumption sites. The main problem? As I showed in those two stories from February, dead people were somehow presenting their personal health numbers at consumption sites. The data are worthless. 3/ drugdatadecoded.ca/inaccurate-d...

Begging news outlets, especially @globalnews.ca, to refuse to report Alberta government propaganda around drug death rates without context. 1. Alberta's capital Edmonton is breaking fatality records. Report that first. 2. Lethbridge is the 4th biggest city in the province. It still has...

“Canada’s refusal to fully uphold the right to life has allowed for thousands of preventable deaths across the country. We are hopeful the committee will hold Canada to account & spur the changes we need to ensure all people in Canada can be healthy & safe” Read more: drugpolicy.ca/canada-chall...

Nowhere has the “free market” solved an affordable housing crisis alone. As I noted Netherlands 34% non-market housing, Denmark 21%, Britain 16%, France 17%. Canada sits at just 3.4%. We need a real plan to scale co-ops, public and geared-to-income homes, with federal investment to match the crisis.

🧵 SUPERVISED CONSUMPTION CLOSURES It’s been obvious for years that Alberta’s UCP government wants the sites closed. So what’s stopped them? Why didn’t they just do it after Kenney said he wouldn’t “help addicts inject poison” in 2018? They needed plausible legitimacy. 1/

The government is taking credit for the fact that Albertans are sicker and doctors are working harder, and calling it a 'gift' to the profession. ABs shouldn't be fooled by their song and dance... Even worse: govt is spending MORE per pt in CSFs and private delivery! 4/4

Alberta has a serious disinformation problem, its government weaponizing “experts” willing to cash in credentials for power. Last year, that tactic — and those people — were leveraged to help close supervised consumption sites across Ontario. drugdatadecoded.ca/inaccurate-d...

I wrote you a piece about the concept of moral injury and why we need the voices of the prophets during times when concepts like "ethical compass" and "basic decency" elude us as a collective. Among other things, it explains moral injury and how to heal from it, which, you know, might be useful.

political determinants of health www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2025/01/24/a...

We have tried absolutely nothing and it hasn't worked so now the only obvious solution here is to blame others from other places.