To be clear, the study Doug Ford cited today to justify his (ill-advised) decision to close supervised consumption sites in Ontario is not from the University of Alberta. It's from an Alberta government crown corporation.

Probably the best work I’ve done to get inside how the ‘Alberta Recovery Model’ grows through disinformation. Hope it’s valuable to people. Part 2, just published: drugdatadecoded.ca/inaccurate-d...

"Inaccurate data": How Recovery Alberta officials facilitated consumption site closures (Pt 2)

Selective data sharing by some of Alberta's top health officials may backstop plausible deniability for government negligence in closing sites – with impacts all the way to Ontario.

drugdatadecoded.ca

Medetomidine has also been detected in drug samples in Alberta. #ableg #yeg #yyc

Andrea Woo@andreawoo.bsky.social · 7mo ago

The BC Centre for Disease Control is warning of an increase in drug poisonings across B.C. due to changes in drug supply. My story from Dec on veterinary sedative medetomidine, detected in 38% opioid samples tested by BCCSU in Nov (gift link) www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1ce6625...

📣 Media looking for an important story related to prisoner abuse, pharma lobbying, public sector profiteering & expert advocacy –– this letter has it all and more. I included the full letter along with the government's new Sublocade policy + BCCSU's 2023 guidance for comparison. Please run with it!

Euan Thomson@drugdatadecoded.ca · 8mo ago

NEW Federal prisons are removing methadone and Suboxone opioid treatments, leaving only a patented once-per-month injection for prisoners. A large group of experts is raising serious concerns about harms to prisoners––and the corporate motivations behind the move. drugdatadecoded.ca/150-experts-...

"Alberta’s Compassionate Intervention Act — which will allow for the involuntary admission of people who use substances, even when they have[..]capacity to make decisions about their care — lacks sufficient evidence of effectiveness + poses substantial ethical concerns" www.cmaj.ca/content/197/...

Involuntary treatment for substance use: application of Kass’ ethical framework to Alberta’s Compassionate Intervention Act

Key points In Canada, more than 50 000 opioid-related deaths have occurred since September 2024, mostly in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, where governments are all in various stages of develo...

cmaj.ca

Edmonton has had a disturbingly high number of frostbite amputations the last two winters. With freezing temps on the way, both the City and the Government of Alberta must do more to prevent people from freezing in the cold. edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu... #ableg #yegcc

Opinion: Edmonton doesn't have to be the frostbite capital of the world

Severe frostbite injuries are entirely preventable - together, let’s work towards a city where no one gets left out in the cold.

edmontonjournal.com

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

The Breakdown AB@thebreakdownab.bsky.social · 10mo ago

WOW! Pete Guthrie has filed legislative FOIP requests and one of them seems to suggest… Dani’s former Chief of Staff, Marshall Smith is making bank of his government connections? #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

BREAKING WIN for PWUD: Supreme Court of Canada rules against the Saskatchewan government and police attempt to claw back the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act in R v Wilson. Pivot argued, and the court agreed, the law protects against simple possession convictions, charges, AND arrests at ODs.

In 2022, a group of organizations penned an open letter demanding transparency on substance use programs in Alberta. The government said it was funding My Recovery Plan to accomplish this. Now, they’re quietly ending that program after apparently figuring out it’s not evidence-based.

Euan Thomson@drugdatadecoded.ca · last yr.

SCOOP Alberta's Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction is quietly shelving a personal data-harvesting app developed through sole-sourced contracts starting in 2021. The move coincides with reported scrutiny of ministry spending by the Auditor General. 1/🧵 drugdatadecoded.ca/province-to-...

Disappointed to hear the Alberta government cut funding to Turning Point in Red Deer, the city’s longstanding harm reduction agency. This leaves a big gap in support for people who use drugs and/or are unstably housed in Red Deer. edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...

Opinion: Closing Alberta harm-reduction hubs is going backwards

By shuttering low barrier and harm reduction services, we are going backwards, not forwards.

edmontonjournal.com

This is a laughable consent process. Patients, including those with full capacity, will be asked if they consent, but then they can't refuse??? Just one of many concerns about Bill 53. Educate yourself. Educate others. Advocate for better.

Hi folx - we have been distributing Not A Narc buttons and stickers, and we'd love to see them in the field! Reply or DM us to share a photo of your support for non-coercive care for People Who Use Drugs :)

No one in their right mind would expect a protest of five people to change the course of history, but credible reports suggest Minister Dan Williams has shaved off his moustache.

Euan Thomson@drugdatadecoded.ca · last yr.

This morning, everyone’s least favourite Downtown Revitalization Coalition hosted “A Conversation with Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Dan Williams.” But right outside, @4bharmredux.bsky.social held a protest all dressed in Dan Williams moustaches, and they deserve a round of applause. 1/

Powerful statement from @albertadoctors.bsky.social on proposed forced abstinence legislation (“Compassionate Intervention Act”). www.albertadoctors.org/news/publica...

Compassionate Intervention Act - Our reaction | AMA

The government has introduced Bill 53 Compassionate Intervention Act for mandatory addiction treatment.

albertadoctors.org

I'm thrilled so many profs use @crackdownpod.bsky.social episodes in their curriculum. Might I suggest including my book by the same name? Learning outcomes include: harm reduction, decrim, methadone, safe supply, HIV, PTSD, sex work, advocacy, research, etc www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/700597...

Crackdown by Garth Mullins | Penguin Random House Canada

*NATIONAL BESTSELLER*Part memoir, part manifesto, Crackdown is a story of the drug war, told from the frontlines.

penguinrandomhouse.ca

🧵Remember when Alberta government claimed just 73 drug poisoning deaths occurred in May '24, and once again trotted out their "cautious optimism" that the Alberta model was working? Well, that count is now 98 deaths – a 34% increase and the largest I've ever seen from initial release to update. 1/

Injunction to halt the UCP's closure of the Red Deer overdose prevention site has been denied, the same day a warning went out about 12 ODs in 15 hours near the former site. As @ehyshka.bsky.social has said, an OPS is like the emergency room of the toxic drug crisis, and now it's just ~gone~

Take a sec to consider the situations these 32,000 people were in when they got turned away from domestic violence shelters. What’s their next move?

Courtney Theriault@ctheriault.bsky.social · last yr.

New report from ACWS finds nearly 32,000 people were turned away from Alberta shelter's due to a lack of space last year, with 40% of them being children. That's a new provincial record. #yeg #yyc #ableg acws.ca/strength-in-...

Anyone else think it’s weird that, like Alberta Health Services, Recovery Alberta has only one board member? And like AHS, also a lot of very questionable contracts? @thebreakdownab.bsky.social

Forced data collection by Recovery Alberta will potentially be used in the implementation of forced treatment. Drug user rights are willfully eroded while the recovery industry scores sole source contracts. Must read by @drugdatadecoded.ca 👇 drugdatadecoded.ca/coercion-at-...

"Coercion at its finest": Ministry mandating My Recovery Plan participation for recovery service access

The app owned by Last Door Recovery Society was legally obligated to be voluntary for recovery program clients. But in a bait-and-switch, the Alberta government is now telling service providers to ens...

drugdatadecoded.ca

We need to stop tap-dancing around this: Alberta is rebuilding residential schools through its recovery model. Its leaders now insist the model must include long-term forced abstinence despite (or because of?) how it places many people at higher risk of overdose. 1/ www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Patients will need extensive support after involuntary addiction treatment: Alberta agency | CBC News

An Alberta Crown corporation that studies addiction recommends that any involuntary treatment be done for longer time periods because shorter stays seem ineffective.

cbc.ca

SCOOP: Edmonton EMS dispatches for opioid poisoning just hit their highest-ever weekly count. While other provincial governments issue warnings, the Alberta government has instead been hiding a key mortality report since 2021 that should have informed solutions. drugdatadecoded.ca/edmonton-set...

Edmonton setting opioid poisoning records while Province quietly hides medical examiner review

Edmonton EMS dispatches for opioid poisoning have hit their highest weekly count ever. While other provincial governments issue warnings, Alberta has been hiding a key mortality report that could have...

drugdatadecoded.ca

🧵 UCalgary campus security executives have been deleting records that implicate them in decision making around the violent police assault on May 9 protesters. 1/ drugdatadecoded.ca/university-o...

University of Calgary destroyed records related to May 9 police violence against protesters

In a rare instance, University of Calgary officials were caught destroying records that should have been made available through freedom of information. The destroyed records — obtained from Calgary Po...

drugdatadecoded.ca

*UPDATED with response from Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld* Remarkable - he doesn't deny that the ASIRT review was set up to fail.

Jeremy Appel 🍉@readtheorchard.org · last yr.

SCOOP: I got a copy of the Calgary police chief’s hand-written notes from May 9 and 10, which show that he discussed the dismantling of a 🇵🇸 encampment at UofC with three Cabinet ministers and the premier’s chief of staff. open.substack.com/pub/theorcha...

Forced treatment shatters trust and relationships. Thankfully Brandon rebuilt the bond with his amazing mom Angie, founder of @4bharmredux.bsky.social. She helped him to get well after 10 years of struggle and houselessness post forced care. #CareIsNotForced

Petra Schulz@msthpetra.bsky.social · last yr.

“When I was put into...[forced] treatment it was violent and degrading and… it made me angry and ashamed which just increased my drug use and...one person I would of turned to, my mom, I didn’t trust anymore.” B from @4bharmredux.bsky.social #abpoli www.momsstoptheharm.com/blog/2025/2/...

"Drug trafficking isn’t just a crime—it’s a symptom of deeper issues that no amount of fines or harsher laws will ever fix. You can’t legislate fear into people and expect them to recover. It doesn’t work. It never has. It never will." #SKpoli www.momsstoptheharm.com/blog/2025/3/...

The Flawed Logic of Million-Dollar Fines in Drug Trafficking: A Perspective from Lived Experience — Moms Stop The Harm

The Flawed Logic of Million-Dollar Fines in Drug Trafficking: A Perspective from Lived Experience Watching the Saskatchewan government announce million-dollar fines for drug trafficking stirred somet...

momsstoptheharm.com

Powerful and unequivocal statement from Canadian Public Health Association on Alberta's proposed involuntary treatment / forced abstinence legislation. www.cpha.ca/alberta-invo...

"Police said Haber met the women through his involvement as a client, sponsor and later contract employee at Last Door starting in 2010." Last Door mgmt then allegedly tried to cover up allegations. Evidence shows Last Door will soon open Calgary Recovery Community. 1/ www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Former B.C. recovery home employee convicted of sexually assaulting vulnerable women | CBC News

Adam Haber, a former fitness trainer at Last Door Recovery Society in New Westminster, was found guilty on Wednesday of two counts of sexual assault involving vulnerable women.

cbc.ca

Latest from the best in the business @manishakrishnan.bsky.social

Filter | harm reduction journalism@filtermag.bsky.social · last yr.

“It’s really concerning,” says one expert, fearing it will amount to incarceration "when your only crime is being houseless and living in poverty." 300 beds are planned; the criteria for who will be forced to occupy them aren't yet set, reports @manishakrishnan.bsky.social:

“I’m not going to stand by and see potential corruption exist within government and be a part of that.” -MLA Peter Guthrie Glad to see a UCP cabinet member with principles. Where is everyone else on this?

Carrie Tait@carrietait.bsky.social · last yr.

Alberta cabinet minister resigns in wake of AHS allegations: www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber... #abpoli #ableg