Adam Zivo: B.C.'s lenient drug policies haven't helped opioid crisis - "A new peer-reviewed study has found that British Columbia’s “safer supply” policy was associated with a statistically significant increase in opioid hospitalizations with no reduction in deaths. To make matters worse, it found that the addition of drug possession decriminalization policies was associated with a further increase in hospitalizations. This research vindicates critics of the harm reduction movement, and raises serious concerns about whether the federal Liberals and B.C. NDP acted recklessly by forwarding these untested policies. The study, which was published in JAMA Health Forum last month, says that safer supply alone was associated with a 33 per cent increase in opioid hospitalizations, while the introduction of drug decriminalization was associated with a further spike, leading to a combined 58 per cent increase compared to provincial rates seen in the late 2010s... The researchers determined that “neither the safer opioid supply policy nor the decriminalization of drug possession seemed to alleviate the opioid crisis,” and hypothesized that widespread diversion of safer supply opioids onto the black market, which has been “increasingly documented,” could explain increased hospitalization rates. The researchers cautioned that “diverted opioids could attract new users, including youth,” and that such users “face a higher risk of overdose, even from pharmaceutical-grade opioids,” because they are opioid-naive. However, they added that “the absence of a significant increase in overdose deaths suggest that the availability of pharmaceutical-grade opioids may have mitigated some of the risks associated with (the) unregulated opioid supply, potentially reducing the severity of outcomes.”... according to Dr. Lori Regenstreif, a Hamilton-based addiction physician, there could be a significant delay before safer supply diversion causes a measurable increase in deaths, as individuals who develop addictions to pharmaceutical opioids generally die many years later, often after escalating to stronger substances. She noted that such a delay was observed with the OxyContin crisis, which safer supply bears a striking resemblance to."
The pro drug people are going to be very upset, but they'll continue citing their old studies which proclaim "harm reduction" a great success - based solely on drug user feedback rather than objective and holistic metrics, or just looking at outcomes in the users (as opposed to the wider population)
Aaron Gunn on X - "BREAKING Canada's Liberal Minister of Public Safety completely UNAWARE that his own government decriminalized hard drugs, including fentanyl, crystal meth and crack cocaine in B.C. Also doesn't think someone high on crystal meth poses a "risk to public safety". Incredible."
Sentences for Drug Crimes - Piñera del Olmo - Spanish Lawyers - "The Spanish authorities take into account the risks which a drug poses on public health before imposing a sentence. Therefore, they consider the risks of the drug in question and the severity of the problems caused by its distribution on the black market. The lawyers in our firm understand that the most severe penalties faced by drug possessors or traffickers are those involving MDMA, LSD, methadone, heroin, speed, and others which pose a high risk to public health. For these drugs, one can expect a prison sentence of between 3 years and 6 years, with an additional fine. Drugs which are considered to be less of a risk to Public Health, our lawyers know to be Marijuana, Rohypnol and other soft drugs. Our lawyers would expect a sentence for the trafficking of these drugs to be between 1 and 3 years, with an additional fine.""
Someone on Facebook claimed that in Spain the government "made all drugs legal and actively gives people comfortable places to do drugs", but decriminalisation of small quantities for private use isn't the same as legalisation
Why are fentanyl deaths in Europe a fraction of those seen in North America? - The Globe and Mail - "It’s not just the U.K. that has largely avoided a fentanyl crisis. The countries that make up the European Union have also seen far less impact from the drug compared to North America. The mortality rate due to all drug overdoses in 2023 in the EU is around 25-per-million people aged 15-64, according to the bloc’s annual European Drug Report. By contrast, in the U.S., the age-adjusted mortality rate just for synthetic opioids, which include fentanyl, was nearly nine times higher at about 222-per-million. “Some people will say, ‘Europe, just wait till you have the fentanyl, and you will have the same problems’,” said Wim van den Brink, an addiction specialist at Amsterdam University Medical Centre. “I don’t think so, because there are many differences between Europe and the U.S... the U.S. lags behind Europe when it comes to arresting and prosecuting most drug offenders. According to the UN, Europe arrests, prosecutes and convicts people for drug-related offences at a much higher rate than that of the Americas. In 2023, for every 100 arrests for drug-trafficking related offences, 55 people were prosecuted, and 25 of those were convicted. Europe, by comparison, prosecuted 61 people per 100 arrests and convicted 34 of them. That same year, when it came to drug possession, the Americas were extremely lenient. Only 9 out of 100 arrested faced prosecution, and only two were convicted. Data suggests that possession laws in Europe were better enforced, with 29 of the 39 people prosecuted for drug possession being convicted... In 2023, treatment coverage for individuals with drug use disorders was highest in Europe. According to the latest data from the UN, 28 per cent of people with drug use disorders in Europe received treatment. In contrast, only 9 per cent of those with drug use disorders in the Americas received treatment... Where Canada significantly differs from the U.S. is on harm reduction services. Prof. Caulkins said Canada is “light years ahead” when it comes to supervised drug-use sites, where people can use drugs under the supervision of a health care worker. He said no other country went “whole hog” the way Canada did.”
The cope is that in Europe they treat it as a health issue, so you need to give away free drugs as part of safer supply and with no "stigma" (which they don't do in Europe, but who cares if you're pro-drugs?)
Mounties spent millions to clean up drug labs in B.C. - "Since the RCMP raided Canada’s largest-ever clandestine fentanyl lab in Falkland last October, the Mounties have accrued $3.6 million in costs removing deadly chemicals from B.C. drug labs. And that money comes out of the RCMP’s operational budget, meaning less cash for more investigations at a time when the federal government is asking the Mounties to cut two per cent from their budget over three years."
RCMP stuck with $3.6 million bill for cleanup of B.C. drug labs : r/ilovebc - "Remember. You were told there wasn’t a problem and that it was US rhetoric. 🤣"
Nanaimo mom upset with drug use info cards distributed at school event : r/ilovebc - "Teaching children how to use the date rape drug recreationally while explaining it as oceanic bliss, connection to eternal love and the divine is wrong on so many levels"
Fentanyl in air at Vancouver supportive housing offices - "The presence of second-hand fentanyl smoke is so severe at some British Columbia supportive housing facilities that workers cannot escape “substantial exposure,” even if they stay in their offices and don’t venture into hallways or tenants’ rooms... University of B.C. adjunct Prof. Mark Haden agreed, adding that he believes the problem of tenants smoking fentanyl in supportive housing is a direct symptom of drug prohibition — a more fundamental issue that should be tackled. “This is a completely predictable outcome of a social policy that we need to fix,” said Haden, who referred to fentanyl in a health care setting as a medicine. “We wouldn’t have people using fentanyl in their rooms if they could go downstairs to some health facility and talk to a health care worker or a nurse who provided these kind of medicines within the context of a health service.” He called supervised consumption sites a big step in addressing the issue, but not enough. “Supervised injection sites don’t provide the medicine,” Haden said. “They provide a space for people to inject illegal drugs. So, what we need to do is to provide the medicines that people take in the context of health facilities.”"
Where's the compassion?! Where's the empathy?! If they can't do their jobs they should resign and let someone else with a heart take over
Big surprise that the answer is more free drugs
Meme - "So if a kid has an allergic reaction the parents have to pay a ridiculous price for an Epi pen. But a junkie who has OD'd for their 15th time gets Narcan for free? What a screwed up world we live in."
Clearly, the solution is free drugs for everyone
Julian Somers: Victoria's Pandora Avenue is a hive of misery. But as its name suggests, there’s hope - "Pandora’s 900 Block is steps from the Ministry of Health headquarters, which I’ve been visiting for my work on addiction and homelessness since the 90s. Last year, I spoke with people living rough, on and around Pandora. Their stories reflect familiar, well-documented themes involving adversity, social isolation, and the experience that public services keep people stuck in a revolving door. A report commissioned by the BC Solicitor General revealed that repeated criminal sentencing and addiction began increasing markedly in BC around 2013. Drug poisoning is now the leading cause of death among youth in BC, two-thirds of whom were current or past clients of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. B.C.’s overall rate of drug-related deaths is about double the Canadian average . Meanwhile, the social consequences of our public policies have metastasized. Stores have closed, tourists stay away, and people are afraid to leave their homes, or move into newly built affordable rentals amidst tent cities on the sidewalks. A desperately needed childcare facility planned to be built at 930 Pandora will struggle to attract clients to the area when completed in 2029. First responders stopped entering the area without a police escort after a paramedic was brutally attacked last year. Homeowners, like those in other B.C. neighbourhoods have seen their quality of life and their home equity decline... Heralding the anticipated benefits of drug decriminalization and “safe supply,” B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer wrote in 2019: “As overdoses become more pervasive both domestically and worldwide, jurisdictions are looking to BC for leadership and guidance. The stage is set for the province to meet this call.” Instead, BC has become a national embarrassment and an international model of what not to do. Our policies prioritize providing publicly-funded drugs to people living in poverty, while demanding that citizens tolerate drug use in an increasing array of settings. Evidence from randomized trials has confirmed that B.C.’s “low barrier” congregate housing has resulted in preventable crime and medical emergencies... Next door to B.C., Alberta is several years into an all-of-government transformation to support recovery. The Alberta Model, which I’ve been honoured to support , includes impressive new resources, like eleven recovery communities and the delivery of addiction treatment in prisons. Rather than keeping people stuck in squalour, Alberta’s approach is guided by a vision of wellness and social reintegration, accompanied by a commitment to transparency. By contrast, B.C.’s Auditor General concluded last year that the province’s massive expansion of drug consumption sites and introduction of “safe supply” were accompanied by “deficiencies in target setting and evaluation.” The absence of credible evaluation meant that, for years, officials could assure the public that our policies were working. Asked last year about widespread diversion of “safe supply,” B.C.’s Minister of Public Safety said the reports were “ simply not true. ” Less than one year later, a leaked Ministry of Health document confirmed that a “significant portion of the opioids being freely prescribed by doctors and pharmacists (were) not being consumed by their intended recipients.” There are no apparent winners in B.C.’s bleak, yet astonishingly costly, approach to addiction, homelessness, and community safety. High-quality sources of guidance are available, including the Stanford-Lancet Commission and a Call to Action for B.C., that, in 2021, recommended scaling up recovery-oriented care in four regions."
Another reason left wingers hate Alberta so much
Too bad recovery-oriented care increases "stigma" so the "solution" is to give even more free drugs out
Steve Kooner MLA on X - "SHOCKING: NDP MLA Stephanie Higginson says she won’t support the Drug Use Prevention Education in Schools Act because she finds “explicitly discouraging drug use” to be “deeply concerning”. I find it deeply concerning that this government can’t put their radical ideology aside for a single second to protect BC school kids from life-destroying drugs."
Heather Maahs MLA on X - "In other news NDP don’t like drug prevention programs in school. Apparently it stigmatizes drug use. I really thought Steve’s bill was a no brainer. Wait….🧐"
Alleged drug deals from chair outside Victoria consumption site ‘unacceptable,’ police chief says : r/ilovebc - "This was the first obfuscation of policy engaged in by the activists in this arena when InSite first opened. Essentially those activists claimed that the VPD being present on-or-around the block was a violation of the "privacy" of InSite's clients and that it was an example of the most evil action ever -- stigmatization. They won. And eventually that same principle was extended to include the entire DTES, which was how we ended up with the 2007 VPD policy to end seizures of all illicit substances within a prescribed weight in that defined locale. Basically, the societal guardrails put in place alongside the original amendment exception to our Federal and Provincial laws surrounding illicit substances that allowed InSite to open were challenged and removed one-by-one within the first couple years of that SIS opening -- mostly under the banner of "destigmatization" despite that concept originally having a very narrow definition of an addict's experience while interacting with specific government and social institutions."
Nanaimo, where complaining about feces in drug zones is all you can do - "Nanaimo, B.C.’s downtown drug experiment has failed to stabilize its overdose rate. It has managed, however, to line the city’s oldest streets with feces, garbage, hit-and-runs, doorway fires and damaged property — a situation so bad that city council, just last week, considered fortifying its parking lot with a 1.8-metre fence. City council ultimately rejected that $412,000 proposal — which might be for the best, considering how everyone else in the area wouldn’t be entitled to its protection. But the fact it was even pondered to begin with is an indictment of “harm reduction” in the little city — and a warning to everyone else who wants to try it. A good chunk of Nanaimo’s homeless services are concentrated downtown. Since December 2022, the city’s lone safe injection site is located to the immediate east of city hall. Prior to that, it was in a building across the street, where it caused escalating issues of “entrenched homelessness, open-air drug use, and street-level trafficking,” according to a report to council. A two-minute drive to the southeast of city hall is another cluster of homeless services known as the Hub, which opened in January. Between the two is the city’s Nob Hill Park, which harbours disorder and is known as a place to avoid by locals, who, in turn, want the homeless services moved. Resident Jean Fox, who lives steps from the park, told the council’s finance committee on Wednesday that her 82-year-old husband’s woodworking tools were stolen from their house as they slept; officers later recovered the tools from carts outside the Hub. As for the park, well, Fox can’t take her granddaughters there anymore because of all the drug users who sit there during the day. “There’s human feces in the park,” she said. “They pull their pants down in front of our window that looks into the park and relieve themselves. They walk around with their pants hanging down and their bums hanging out.” Anthony Gratl, currently renovating his rental house in the area — where he raised his son several years ago with no problems — reported that he “was attacked last week when I asked somebody to move off of my property.” Now, meth smokers congregate in the area, waiting for the pharmacy to open. “The situation is well out of control.” Leslie Girard, another father in the area, has had to deal with garbage, physical and verbal abuse and even human feces at his fence since the Hub facility was opened in January. He reported that overnight shelter users even held a dog fight on one occasion. The residents’ observations are backed by city statistics, which show that the RCMP has received just over 500 calls for service in the area surrounding the Hub from January to June. But even these are of limited use: the root cause of this widespread chaos — open-air drug use — is virtually off-limits for police. RCMP Constable Adam Taylor explained to the finance committee that the force is held back by federal rules that allow the possession of up to 2.5 grams of illegal drugs, which prevent them from making arrests. (Federal decriminalization efforts have caused similar front-line problems in Sarnia, Ont., to the great frustration of locals)... Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog asked: “Is it fair to say … (that) it is practically speaking impossible for the police to arrest folks in a meaningful way for drug use in a public place?” The officer’s reply? “Yes.” The centre, as with many others of its type, does help people. It houses the homeless overnight, and, anecdotally, the city reports that it’s connected some individuals with addiction treatment. But, to accomplish all this, it’s transformed the surrounding area into a free-range homeless zone rooted to a few indoor service providers. As for whether any of this is improving overdose statistics long-term, it’s not optimistic: Nanaimo’s rate tripled from 500 in 2016 to 1,500 in 2024, according to provincial data. It’s true that 2024 was better than 2023, which saw 2,500 deaths, but plenty more progress needs to be made before the city can declare victory. Similar stories of urban devastation crop up across the country. In Sarnia, in Hamilton, Ont. and in Kitchener, Ont., homeless encampments have become court-entrenched features, with judges ruling that insufficient shelter space renders camp-clearing a Charter violation — with no thought for the general public, of course. In Vancouver, the scene is so bad that Crown prosecutors, whose offices are located in the midst of the maelstrom, are begging to move. In Nanaimo, authorities are now considering moving the Hub in light of resident feedback, but the city’s social planning manager wasn’t optimistic that a new location could be found. Of course, simply closing the thing isn’t an option — it never is. That’s Canada, 2025: instead of arresting the people whose crime and chaos destroy community for everyone else, or at least isolating them in facilities for people who can’t take care of themselves (which the homeless and addicted can’t), we shrug. Whether their problems surface before city councils or courts, the well-being of everyday, society-contributing, city residents remains a low priority."
The residents who complain are disgusting human beings who lack "empathy". They need to erect more "we support our homeless neighbors" signs and learn how to be kind. The only solution is to give out more free drugs
The drug-addict zombies are coming for your neighbourhood - "Over the past year I’ve almost killed addicts several times. Not that I wanted to. But when you’re driving along the street and they randomly walk out in front of your car, it’s a little tricky not to become an accidental killer. Trips to the library aren’t exactly like when I was a child. Our library is downtown across from an old Greyhound station. It’s not as if a bus station is entirely salubrious, but when they replaced it with the “Consumption and Treatment Services Site” things got a lot more zombie-movie-like. Recent trips to the library have included such highlights as watching one man defecate beside our car even as, a few feet away, a group of people huddled in a group and injected drugs. Then there was the time I entered the library only to find a couple spreading out their things in the library foyer, including drug paraphernalia and large bottles of booze. If you went by what it is mostly used for, you might think the library toilet in the basement — right next to the children’s section — is meant to be a homeless person’s French-shower location and possibly a place to shoot up (if the sounds in the stalls are anything to go by)... All of this has happened while the so-called “harm reduction” programs have expanded. And even though the “housing first” advocates did build a new community of tiny homes for the homeless just a couple of years ago, somehow, for some inexplicable reason, the problem has only gotten worse."
When left wingers want to censor and oppress those they disagree with, they claim that your right to swing your fist ends at my nose. But they want to give drug addicts free reign to terrorise normal people and if you disagree, you are a bad person, because only drug addicts have rights, but not normal people
Senator to call for advertising ban for beer, wine and liquor, amid push for alcohol warning labels - "Senator Patrick Brazeau, who has publicly battled substance abuse issues, believes alcoholic drinks should face many of the same restrictions as tobacco and marijuana, so this Fall he is planning to introduce a bill in the Senate to prohibit the promotion of alcohol. “The intent is simply to ban the advertising and promotion of alcohol in Canada writ large, like we have done with tobacco products”... Brazeau continues to try and push bill S-254 through parliament, which would force warning labels on the packaging of beer, wine and liquor... In 2022, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released new guidelines saying no amount of alcohol consumption is safe, and in 2023 the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research released a report recommending the mandating of alcohol warning labels."
Cracking down on traditionally legal drugs while liberalizing traditionally harder ones. How odd
Derek Finkle: Pro-drug injection site activists were dangerously wrong on closures - "“A lot more people are going to die.” This was the dire prediction oft-repeated back in March by a busload of lawyers who supported a legal challenge filed by an injection site in Toronto that claimed recent Ontario legislation forcing the closure of sites within 200 metres of schools and daycare facilities violates the Charter rights of drug users. The two expert witnesses for that site, in the Kensington neighbourhood of Toronto, are employed by the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions , a hospital-run research centre. MAP had played a key role in the establishment of the city’s first injection sites in 2017. Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi and Dr. Dan Werb both submitted evidence that overdose deaths in Toronto would increase sharply if half of the city’s ten injection sites closed at the end of March because of the legislation. Fred Fischer, a lawyer representing Toronto’s Board of Health, one of the intervenor groups in the case, also told Justice John Callaghan of the Ontario Superior Court that reducing harm reduction services in Toronto during the ongoing opioid crisis would have severe consequences — more people will overdose and die . A lawyer for another intervenor, a harm reduction coalition, put an even finer point on it. He said that one of the Toronto injection sites not affected by the legislation was anticipating such an immediate and overwhelming increase in overdose deaths in April, after the closures, that the site was in the process of hiring grief counsellors for its staff. More than two months have passed since then, and now that we’re in June, you might be wondering: How many more people ended up dying because of the closure of these sites? According to data that’s compiled by Toronto Paramedic Services and Toronto Public Health, the answer, so far, is none. In fact, the number of overdoses in Toronto for the month of April, the first month after the sites had closed, dropped notably. Toronto had 13 fatal overdose calls in April, one less than in March, when the now-closed injection sites were still open. Thirteen is less than half the number of fatal overdoses across the city in April of last year, and significantly below the monthly average for all of 2024 (19). Thirteen fatal overdoses are far lower than the average monthly number during the period of Covid-19 emergency between April 2020 and May 2023 (25). The last time 13 was the norm for monthly fatal overdoses was prior to the pandemic. The number of calls for non-fatal overdoses in April was 161. This may sound like a lot but it’s the lowest monthly total so far this year in Toronto. And 161 non-fatal overdoses are 55 per cent less than the 359 that occurred in April of 2024. Remarkably, in the third week of April, there were zero fatal overdose calls, something that hasn’t happened in Toronto in months. Of course, this data has barely been reported on, but I can assure that had overdoses gone up in April, even slightly, outlets such as the Toronto Star and other habitual defenders of injection sites would have run we-told-you-so pieces by now... The chief emphasized that his frontline officers in Sandy Hill “consistently report that their workload is heavily influenced and consumed by drug-related crimes, mental health crises and social disorder.” The impact of the site on the surrounding community, wrote Stubbs, “cannot be overlooked.” He added that his police force was “especially troubled by the unintended but serious consequences, such as the closure of nearby childcare facilities due to safety concerns, a situation that is without precedence in our city.”... There are clear signs across the country that the disproportional focus on harm reduction from the Trudeau era is being reconsidered. So is the argument posited by some activists that the only solution to drug encampments is more housing . In a recent Globe and Mail feature about the open-air drug market on Victoria, B.C.’s Pandora Avenue, a local housing non-profit said that many of the street’s inhabitants turned down supportive units it had opened for them. A sergeant with the local force called the population “unhousable.” “This isn’t a housing issue,” said another Victoria officer. “It’s a drug issue. And it’s a mental health issue. People need off-ramps: treatment, long-term care. But we don’t offer them any of that.” And just in case you don’t think police have the expertise to speak about such matters, Julian Daly, the CEO of a homeless shelter in Victoria called Our Place, advocates for involuntary care, which he says is long overdue: “There is a very small group of people on Pandora Avenue who will frankly need some sort of institutional care for the rest of their lives. They will not be able to go back into mainstream society and be safe and healthy.” This week, under Dr. Daniel Vigo, B.C.’s chief scientific advisor for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders, the province is opening 18 beds at a new mental health facility in Metro Vancouver dedicated to long-term involuntary care. Vigo says these beds will go to patients who are “stuck in high-security hospital units indeterminately” because of a lack of other options. Marjorie Michel, the health minister, had a lukewarm response to the news, saying that forcing fentanyl addicts into treatment isn’t the answer because clear supporting evidence doesn’t exist yet. What the minister’s position doesn’t acknowledge, however, is that a growing number of street fentanyl users suffer from irreversible brain damage so severe they are unable to adequately care for themselves. They may never be able to. Pointing to a lack of evidence about involuntary treatment for those without debilitating brain injuries while ignoring evidence about the hundreds, if not thousands, of those who will never recover from the neurological trauma opioids have caused, is short-sighted to say the least. Vigo is right to pursue more treatment options for those who want it while at the same time doing what’s compassionate for those who can’t care for themselves."
Left wingers are still repeating this line. Evidence doesn't matter. Trust the Left Wing 'Experts'
People that live near safe supply and safe injection sites, how is it? - "I don’t live near one, but I did go to Ryerson and had to pass it almost every day because I had many classes in the building it was attached to, and I can say that myself and every single one of my female friends who had classes in the building were either harassed or assaulted by users outside of it. It did genuinely make life unsafe for students at the university. One or two junkies on the sidewalk, you can cross the street and walk around if they seem aggressive or threatening. A large group of them all in front of the door you need to use to get to class, you can’t."
