Adam Zivo: No Dr. Bonnie Henry, drug prohibition is not ‘white supremacy’ - "The notion that drug prohibition is inherently racist has become exceedingly popular within the harm reduction world and, by extension, inside many public health institutions and graduate programs. Yet anyone with even a cursory knowledge of history can see that this is absurd. Societies from all across the world have long understood the dangers of addictive substances and supported efforts to criminalize them—so why is this being ignored? Though the “prohibition is racist” movement usually flies under the public’s radar, it was thrust into the limelight earlier this month when B.C.’s top doctor, Bonnie Henry, released a report calling for the legalization of all drugs. Not only did Henry recommend that dangerous substances—including meth, cocaine and fentanyl—be sold in stores much like alcohol and cannabis, her team asserted that prohibitionist policies are “based on a history of racism, white supremacy, paternalism, colonialism, classism and human rights violations.” One would hope such sweeping declarations would have been backed with fulsome arguments and historical references, but that didn’t happen here."
Sam Cooper on X - "At a certain point you have to look at BC’s political institutions and leaders and think not only are some captured in a corrupt narco economy but some are useful idiots with views apologetic to a narco economy that will only make BC’s drug overdose crisis worsen."
Psychologists Debunk the 'Lazy Stoner' Stereotype - "People who regularly smoke cannabis aren't as lazy or unmotivated as people tend to think, according to a new study in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. In fact, having smoked weed appeared to have no impact on people's motivation levels at all... The researchers additionally found that people who regularly smoke weed had higher levels of positive emotions like gratitude, and lower levels of fear and anxiety, when they were high, but those who were on the highest end of chronic use experienced more negative emotions both when high and when sober. Previous research into how weed can affect motivation mostly failed to consider variations among cannabis users and non-users, such as differences in personality, mental health, or the use of other psychoactive substances, the researchers noted. Accordingly, this study is one of the first to account for these differences."
As Canadian drug deaths rise, programs to keep users safe face backlash
Clearly, this is proof that even more "harm reduction" is needed. Of course, the article just quotes experts claiming they save lives, without referring to the actual evidence (or lack thereof)
ZIVO: B.C. dodges a bullet by rejecting 'safe supply' of all hard drugs - "Thank God the B.C. government has rejected the latest reckless proposals from safer-supply advocate Dr. Bonnie Henry... According to Henry, the “main driver” of Canada’s overdose crisis is “a prohibitionist approach to drugs that has produced a highly toxic unregulated drug supply.” If all addictive substances could be manufactured and purchased legally, in a regulated manner that would assure their quality, then countless lives could be saved, she reasons. But there is almost no evidence to back up these claims. The report itself acknowledges that there is “little published information” on full-scale drug legalization and that existing research only explores “potential approaches” (a.k.a.: this research is theoretical). Faced with an evidentiary void, the report relied on conjecture, specious arguments and misrepresentations. For example, Henry’s team compared the legal sale of hard drugs to the sale of toys, groceries, clothing and marijuana... Henry’s team ignored how the widespread, legal availability of “safe” pharmaceutical narcotics caused North America’s current opioid epidemic ; in the entire almost-100-page report, the OxyContin crisis was mentioned only obliquely in one sentence. The report further claimed that drug prohibition was “based on a history of racism, white supremacy, paternalism, colonialism, classicism and human rights violations.” To justify this claim, the authors leaned into the fact that Canada’s original prohibition laws, dating back to the early 20th century, were motivated by a fear of Chinese immigrants who used opium. Sure, dozens of Indigenous reserves across Canada have independently banned alcohol and drugs — most community leaders oppose drug legalization and some even refer to safer supply as “pharmaceutical colonialism” — but apparently we must ignore them. That is just their internalized racism speaking. Similarly, should we pretend that strict drug prohibition doesn’t exist in Shariah law and the justice systems of many contemporary Asian states? Confronted by oceans of white supremacy and moved by the “discrimination” allegedly experienced by drug users, Henry has determined that expanding “safer supply” is the only way to go. But there’s a problem: Canada’s current “medicalized” system requires drug users to obtain a prescription for their taxpayer-funded addictive substances. This restricts legal access to hard drugs, imposes “surveillance” upon users and — hold your gasps — implies that habitual use of these drugs is a medical problem, rather than a legitimate lifestyle choice. The report thus favoured “non-medical safer supply” wherein “gatekeepers” (physicians and nurse practitioners) would be removed from the equation. If most health-care professionals refuse to prescribe safer supply (because they believe it is reckless ), then they must simply be gotten rid of, it seems... The report also attempted to justify the “non-medical” model by citing the alleged successes of Canada’s existing safer supply programs. But not only is such an extrapolation logically unsupportable, the inconvenient truth is that no reliable evidence of success actually exists. Henry referenced a 2024 study published in the British Medical Journal that followed 5,882 B.C. drug users for 18 months and found that those who received safer supply drugs were 61% to 91% less likely to die the following week. However, seven physicians who reviewed the study found that its underlying data actually suggested that safer supply had no statistically significant impact on deaths. Harm-reduction researchers had simply cherry-picked their data (i.e. fixated on one-week outcomes while ignoring longer-term measures, which is highly unusual) to create a mirage of success. Most of the other studies cited by Henry relied on self-reported surveys and interviews with safer supply clients. This kind of low-quality research , which amounts to glorified customer testimonials, would not be acceptable in most health-care settings. Similarly, Henry claimed that the decades of research supporting opioid agonist therapy (i.e. methadone and Suboxone) also showed that safer supply works — yet addiction physicians say these are totally different interventions with non-transferable evidence bases. Just this February, Henry was forced to admit in a report that safer supply is “not fully evidence-based.” Now she is putting glitter on junk science and engaging in mental gymnastics to advocate for the program’s radical and unprecedented expansion. Over the past year, it has become painfully obvious that the opioids currently being distributed through safer supply are being widely diverted to the black market , where they are flooding communities, enriching gangs and fuelling new addictions among adults and youth . Predictably, Henry glossed over these issues and omitted any reference to organized crime. She repeatedly claimed that “non-medical safer supply” would be provided responsibly, with “guardrails” in place to prevent diversion. But it is hard to take this seriously when her report claimed it is “paramount” that active drug users, addicted or not, take a leadership role in developing and implementing the experiment. Perhaps not incidentally, the report also explicitly stated that any medical monitoring of safer supply — such as urine tests and witnessed consumption — should be removed for the sake of “reducing barriers.” These measures are among the few tools available to prevent or track diversion, but they apparently cause “discomfort” among drug users... But if Premier David Eby truly opposes drug legalization, why does Henry, who has pushed this agenda for years , still have a job? It should not escape our notice that there is a provincial election coming in October, and that Eby rolled back other radical drug policies — such as the unrestricted consumption of illicit drugs in hospitals — only after his party had fallen in the polls. If his government is re-elected, what will happen with Henry’s recommendations then?"
KLEIN: Supervised Consumption Sites: A step towards harm reduction or a gateway to increased harm? - "a 2017 report by the Vancouver Police Department noted a 36% increase in calls for service related to mental health, suspicious circumstances, and public disorder within 500 meters of Insite. The area around the facility has seen a notable rise in petty crimes such as theft and vandalism. Discarded needles pose a significant biohazard risk, endangering public health. A study by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control found that needle-stick injuries among the public increased in neighbourhoods surrounding supervised consumption sites... Statistics reveal that less than 5% of users make the shift towards treatment. Rather than serving as a gateway to recovery, these sites often become hubs of continued drug use, drawing more users and fostering addiction. The notion of encouraging drug use with minimal conversion to treatment seems more like perpetuating harm than reducing it. Government funds might be better spent on treatment and recovery programs rather than facilities that merely enable addiction. The situation in San Francisco provides another cautionary example. The city’s Tenderloin district, home to multiple harm reduction programs, has seen an escalation in public drug use and associated social issues. According to the San Francisco Chronicle , there was a 70% increase in reported incidents of public drug use and a 50% rise in drug-related crimes following the establishment of these programs. Local businesses have reported significant financial losses due to the decline in foot traffic and the negative perception of the area... In 2021, Oregon decriminalized small amounts of illicit drugs, resulting in a surge in public drug use and opioid overdoses. The law stipulated a fine of less than $100 for possession, which could be waived by calling a 24-hour addiction screening hotline. However, only 1% of those fined utilized this hotline, leading to skyrocketing overdose rates. Consequently, Oregon lawmakers are now reconsidering their stance and moving towards recriminalizing drug use. Portugal’s experience, often cited by harm reduction proponents, also offers a mixed picture. While the country saw initial success in reducing overdose deaths and HIV infection rates following decriminalization, recent reports suggest a resurgence in drug use and related social problems. A 2018 study by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction indicated a 20% increase in drug-related deaths over five years, raising concerns about the long-term efficacy of harm reduction policies."
LILLEY: Evidence shows safe supply diversion is a problem - "Police in London, Ont., held a news conference on Monday to lay out how bad the situation really is and, in part, to play defence... opioid pills seized by police in London went from just a few hundred in 2019 to more than 30,000 in 2023... “Diverted safe supply is being resold into our community, it is being trafficked into other communities, and it is being used as currency in exchange for fentanyl, fuelling the drug trade.”... Unlike other treatments for addicts like methadone, safe supply doesn’t require any supervision, they don’t take the pills at the pharmacy. Instead, the addict is given dozens of 8mg pills per day which come with a high street value. There have been doctors raising the alarm about safe supply across the country, and journalists like me and Zivo have written stories, hosted podcasts, and published video interviews on the topic. The activists have denied there was anything wrong, the politicians have claimed that accusations of safe supply being diverted were misinformation and disinformation. Despite evidence collected from the streets of Vancouver, the pleas from families experiencing hell in the suburbs of the lower mainland or questions raised in London, it was dismissed. Dr. Andrea Sereda, one of the main doctors behind the London safe supply program, refused to answer many straightforward questions about safe supply at a Parliamentary committee earlier this year and tried to infer that pills were not being diverted... “We have no evidence that they are ending up in the hands of children. We have no scientific data that supports those assertions,” Sereda said... A while later, Sereda was speaking to an activist group called Moms Stop the Harms — and apparently when she thought no one who disagrees with her would notice — she admitted diversion was happening. “I’m not going to stand up here and say that some kids, some adolescents, are not accessing diverted safe supply and using diverted safe supply,” she said."
Coalition of drug user groups wants court to quash B.C. drug 'recriminalization' - "When the federal government allowed British Columbia to walk back its experiment with drug decriminalization, the move wasn't surprising to Brittany Maple, executive director of the Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society. "It's disheartening," Maple said. "We are effectively criminalizing people for existing in public spaces when they have nowhere else safe to exist." Now, Maple's society has teamed up with a coalition of drug user advocacy groups to take the federal government to court, claiming the decision to recriminalize public drug possession in B.C. puts users at increased risk of death."
So now, if you're not allowed to do drugs, you're not allowed to exist. This is even more amazing than TRA mumbo jumbo logic
If one argues that pro-drug policies put drug users at increased risk of death, can drugs be totally banned and users forced to go into treatment?
Dr. Sharon Koivu: 'Safe supply' has only worsened the addiction crisis in London, Ont. - "I lived close to the health centre, and I initially supported the program... Clients are often prescribed 30 to 40 Dilaudid pills per day, many of which are being diverted. This is fuelling the use of illicit fentanyl, which began appearing on the streets of London in 2018, leading to an increase in overdoses . I am repeatedly hearing disturbing stories that people with prescriptions are vulnerable to violence. Diversion appears to have shifted from being sold to individuals to being sold to organized crime as more is appearing in large amounts in police seizures. It is also causing significant harm to the patients I serve. From 2012 to 2017, I rarely saw patients with spine infections. In the summer of 2017, I saw five patients in one month. The numbers continued to climb. The common thread among most of them was that they were injecting Dilaudid tablets. Most told me that they were buying diverted Dilaudid from clients of the “safe supply” program, while others were in the program directly. I had patients who were housed, using clean equipment and only injecting Dilaudid, developing horrific infections. Spine infections cause perhaps the worst suffering I have ever seen. Not only are they unbearably painful, but they can also cause paraplegia or quadriplegia. Since 2017, I have been part of the care team in about 100 hospitalizations of people with injection drug-related spine infections. In June of 2018, I had my first patient tell me that he had left his apartment to live in a tent near the pharmacy and “safe supply” clinic from which much diversion takes place. This was because “safe supply” pills were cheaper and more abundant near the source... Over the past year, we have seen about one patient per month with a spine infection. Half of these were receiving a “safe supply” prescription and half reported buying diverted Dilaudid. About 30 people per month are admitted with another severe infection. Of patients admitted with opioid use disorder, 25 per cent were receiving a “safe supply” prescription and 25 per cent reported using diverted Dilaudid. Only four per cent of our consults were for an unintentional overdose. The failure of “safe supply” was predictable. Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin helped start the addiction crisis, and Dilaudid, which is also manufactured by Purdue, is an even stronger and more addictive opioid. I and many of my addiction physician colleagues have been warning about the pending harms from the start. Public Health Ontario data shows that the harms we’ve been warning about are very real. Prior to the start of the “safe supply” program, the Middlesex-London area was principally less than or equal to the provincial average rates for measured harms from opioid toxicity (i.e., emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths). Since the “safe supply” program started and expanded, the harms experienced in Middlesex-London have escalated substantially, beyond the rates experienced in the rest of the province... It has also been costly to the emergency department. In 2014, emergency department visits were lower than average. In 2015, they were five per cent higher in Middlesex-London than the rest of Ontario. From 2020 to 2022, emergency department visits were, on average, 80 per cent higher. Interestingly, London Health Sciences Centre has a $76 million deficit even after receiving a $95 million bailout from Queen’s Park. While hospital budgets are complex and multifactorial, this deficit parallels the expansion of London’s “safe supply” program. Instead of saving health-care dollars, “safe supply“ is costly. Importantly, as I referenced previously, when “safe supply” started in 2016, we did not have a problem with illicit fentanyl in London. We do now. Many patients have told me they sell or trade much of their prescribed “safe supply” to buy fentanyl. Others, not in the program, have told me that their dealers have sold them fentanyl after claiming to be out of Dilaudid, starting them down that path. Our hospital experience shows that “safe supply” is also preventing patients from choosing opioid agonist therapy and the opportunity for recovery."
Damn conservative governments underfunding healthcare!
B.C. police admit diverted opioids flood streets - "In a House of Commons health committee hearing this week, two high ranking police representatives disclosed several unsettling facts about the widespread diversion of “safer supply” opioids. However, their testimony also included questionable remarks, which suggest that the province’s police leadership may be playing down the extent of the problem. Fiona Wilson, who is deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department and president of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police (BCACP), told parliamentarians that roughly half of the hydromorphone recently seized in the province can be attributed to safer supply... To give context, she estimated that approximately 20 per cent of the people who are prescribed hydromorphone in B.C. are enrolled in a safer supply program — which implies that, per capita, safer supply clients divert four times more hydromorphone to the black market than people who receive the drug for other reasons (i.e. chronic pain patients). This data apparently came as a shock to Premier David Eby, who told reporters on Tuesday that it was the first time that he had ever heard of it. If this is indeed true, then that casts doubt upon the province’s repeated and emphatic claims that it is “closely monitoring” safer supply diversion. While harm reduction advocates have said that safer supply diversion is a rare or insignificant phenomenon, Wilson’s testimony demolished that position. When a taxpayer-funded program is doubling the street supply of a pharmaceutical opioid that is as potent as heroin, that is hardly insignificant. However, the diversion problem may actually be worse than Wilson let on, because there may in fact be far fewer safer supply patients diverting even larger quantities of hydromorphone... It is notoriously difficult to prove whether diverted hydromorphone originates from safer supply or not, as the federal government inexplicably refuses to make any safer supply drugs “traceable” through special dyes, shapes and chemical identifiers... McDonald also made some questionable claims. Among other things, he said that, at present, “We do not have evidence to suggest that safer supply has been diverted outside of British Columbia.” This statement directly contradicted the testimony of Prince George RCMP Cpl. Jennifer Cooper, who told me last month that her detachment had proven that interprovincial diversion was occurring “through ongoing investigations that involve other departments and other police agencies.” There have been ongoing concerns that the B.C. RCMP’s leadership is deliberately ignoring safer supply. Last month, the leadership, in contradiction to several lower-ranking detachments, claimed that there is “no evidence” of widespread diversion and concurrently issued a memo, which was leaked to media, instructing local detachments to avoid speaking about the issue with reporters."
The Brothers Keepers' child solider who trafficked safe supply opioids - "His story was illuminating, as it demolishes the B.C. NDP’s claims that widespread trafficking of safer supply is not taking place... Logan said that every single homeless person he knew who was on safer supply would sell or trade their free drugs"
Canadian drug advocacy group founders charged with trafficking - "Two founders of a drug advocacy group who sold cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin in defiance of Canada’s federal government have been charged with trafficking-related offences. Police in Vancouver said charges of possession for the purposes of trafficking were approved on 31 May against 28-year-old Jeremy Kalicum and 33-year-old Eris Nyx, co-founders of the Drug User Liberation Front. Kalicum and Nyx were arrested in October, but were only charged recently, and are due to appear in court on 2 July. In 2022, DULF made headlines after the volunteer-led group announced it would offer pure cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin to users as part of a “compassion club” to prevent overdose deaths... the pair challenged Health Canada’s decision not to approve the exemption, arguing the decision leaves people who use drugs “fully and directly exposed” to the toxicity crisis and violates two clauses of Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms: the right to life and a right to equal protection under the law."
LILLEY: Toronto's overdose numbers bad, city's solutions worse - "The city’s public health officials issued their report for last year and lamented the horrors of the “unregulated drug supply” and “the drug toxicity crisis” while calling for “collaborative solutions.” “This is more than a public health issue – it’s a human tragedy that demands we respond with empathy, care and compassion,” Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said in a statement. Yes, we should respond with empathy, care and compassion, but the main solutions advocated by de Villa have been a disaster where they have been tried. It was just four weeks ago that de Villa was still advocating that Toronto seek permission for decriminalization of all hard drugs. She made that call after British Columbia’s NDP government had declared their experiment with decriminalization a disaster. She has also fully embraced so-called safer supply, which — despite opposition from the Ford government at Queen’s Park — became a reality in Toronto because of funding from the Trudeau Liberals... The problem, as has been well documented, is that addicts will often sell these drugs to buy stronger drugs like fentanyl and the pills are sold on the street, often to younger users. In British Columbia, where decriminalization and safer supply were fully embraced — similar to what de Villa wants here — the results have been catastrophic. Despite embracing every measure sold by the advocates to reduce overdoses, deaths from drug consumption have gone up every year, but one, in the last decade. Last year, British Columbia saw in excess of 2,500 overdose deaths , more than Ontario, despite having one-third of the population. Between Jan. 1 and March 31, the province of 5 million saw 527 overdose deaths , more than Toronto saw all of last year with a population of just over 3 million. On a per capita basis, B.C. sees roughly three times as many overdose deaths as Toronto. Following in B.C.’s footsteps — as de Villa and her colleagues at City Hall want — is ludicrous... The specific choice of those words shows that they don’t view drug use and addiction as part of the problem, they see the toxic nature of the drugs as the problem. It’s not that someone is using heroin or fentanyl, it’s that they are using dirty street drugs. This is the language used by those who want a regulated supply of opioids, provided free of charge but paid for by you and me. That’s a policy no resident of the city should be willing to accept."
Adam Zivo: Audio recordings reveal disruption plot by harm reduction activists - "Upon learning of the conference’s existence, Canadian harm reduction activists developed a plan for disruption. National Post obtained audio recordings and screenshots of two large Zoom meetings, which occurred on May 21 and 28, wherein approximately 20 activists, led by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), consolidated their plans. Attendees included staff from the BC Civil Liberties Association, BC Health Coalition, Unity Health Toronto and two influential B.C. government bodies: Vancouver Coastal Health and First Nations Health Authority... the group confirmed plans to plant harm reduction activists at the event and have them interrupt key talks. They also explored having a volunteer attend with a hidden camera to film and photograph attendees, while having a separate individual film outside the event. “I think you should fill up paint in a fire extinguisher and just spray them all, because they actually, like when we disrupted one of their meetings, like the doctor’s meeting, they were too scared to come near us. They were too scared to kick all of us out,” said Zoë Dodd, a prominent Toronto-based harm reduction activist , as the group approvingly laughed. “And we filmed everything. We filmed their talks. We filmed them. We just kept filming.” Among the group was Dr. Thomas Kerr, Director of Research at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), a research organization with significant influence over provincial and national addiction policymaking. Last year, the BCCSU was accused of organizing a smear campaign against clinical psychologist Dr. Julian Somers, who is presenting at PROSPER, after he publicly criticized safer supply... The group debated whether they should dye the water in the fountain red to symbolize blood. “Love the idea of the fountains with dye — that makes for pretty rad images in the media,” typed Tanis Rose, co-executivee Director of the Mountainside Harm Reduction Society, into the meeting chat. Several activists were unsure of the legality of this stunt. One expressed concern that the blood idea would “discredit” them and harm relationships with Canadian universities. That activist instead advocated for parking a car right up against the building entrance and honking its horn. The activists discussed at length how they could manipulate the media into picking up their talking points, and debated the use of more moderate actions, such as drawing chalk outlines to symbolize dead bodies and using video recordings of disrupted talks to “embarrass” Falcon and Rustad. They believed that if anyone criticized the use of chalk in the media, they would look like “little b****hes.”... For years, harm reduction activists have used well organized tactics to silence opponents, but these recordings provide a glimpse into the sophistication of their work and suggest growing desperation amid crumbling public support."
Left wingers are so threatened by the free flow of ideas
Washington State’s Keeping Families Together Act blamed for enabling the horrific stabbing death of 4-year-old boy by his own mother - "Janet Garcia, 27 appeared in Snohomish County Court following her arrest Friday as the suspect in the death of her son Ariel Garcia. Police believe that Janet Garcia stabbed the 4-year-old “up to 41 times” during a vicious attack in Everett, WA last week... In July 2023, the Keeping Families Together Act went into effect and allowed the drug-addicted and homeless to maintain custody of children because circumstances such as substance abuse or inadequate housing don’t constitute imminent physical harm to a child, according to state Democrats. The results of the legislation have already been tragic. Earlier this year, James Kennedy, the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney and Coroner told King 5 that the law needs to be changed after a three-week-old baby was found dead in the bushes near a lagoon in Port Townsend with blood dripping from its nose and strapped to a car seat. According to court documents, the baby was born with fentanyl in his system, and the mother also tested positive for fentanyl. The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) gave temporary custody to Jordan Sorenson, the father of the infant, despite a lengthy criminal history dating back to when he was a minor, including 28 warrants for failure to appear or comply, four felony convictions as an adult, and two felony convictions as a minor, eight gross misdemeanor convictions and two pending misdemeanors. Though he passed an initial drug test to care for the baby, he then began not complying with drug testing, and then, a few days later, he disappeared with the baby. The baby’s mother told DCYF that Sorensen had used black market-purchased urine to pass his drug test. He was eventually found without the child. He led police to the spot where he put the baby’s body and claimed he fell asleep with the baby on his lap and woke up to find the baby dead between his body and the chair he was sitting in. Sorensen was charged with kidnapping, disposing of a body, and concealing a body... “We just keep pouring down more services to the dark hole and it causes harm. I expect them to understand how to climb out someday. Love and compassion for your fellow man is not giving them the tools to kill themselves. And it just makes me sick. We have all these government-funded heroin dens and booty bumping kits. I mean, that's our tax dollars paying for that junk. And it's not helping anyone. We have like just this, this mass casualty on our streets.” Couture continued, “More people died in 2022 from drug deaths and overdose deaths, then died since 2001 in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.”"
