IN NEWS - 2024
We have created this webpage as a hub for articles and news updates featuring our work and collaborations with our allies.
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December 2, 2024 - The National Safer Supply Community of Practice (NSS-CoP) Webinar: Rebuilding Workplace Substance Use Policy Using a Harm Reduction Lens
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November 28, 2024 - Leslie McBain of Moms Stop the Harm says the threat of Nitazene being mixed into the supply of illicit drugs is yet another reason that a safer-supply of opioids should be available to all people suffering substance abuse.
McBain says when there are interruptions in the illicit drug supply it leaves a lot of people dependent on that supply high and dry.
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November 26, 2024 - Angela Welz and Moms Stop the Harm believe involuntary substance legislation like PChAD can cause serious harm and death. Welz knows first-hand, because she used the legislation to force her daughter into 12 days of treatment after she started to struggle with drug use in high school.
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November 22, 2024 - Letter to the Editor:
Overdose prevention needed in hospitals
An estimated 165,000-225,000 British Columbians from all walks of life will access the unregulated drug market throughout any 12 months, including about half who do not have a substance use disorder or fit into the definition of addiction. Society continues to shame, punish and stigmatize people who use drugs, forcing many to conceal their drug use.
The unregulated drug market is dominated by toxic mixtures of strong opioids and benzodiazepines, which in combination cause oversedation and respiratory depression. When these dangerous effects occur secretly, there is no opportunity for a timely first aid response.
Stigma is fueling a public health crisis that isolates and kills an average of six people each day in B.C. While it might not be acceptable to some, the reality is that drug use occurs in most places, including in health-care settings. As in other environments, drug users are typically forced to use in secret when in hospital. Health-care workers have rightfully expressed safety concerns about this reality, and many advocate for evidence-based, practical solutions.
This week, health-care providers are setting up an overdose prevention site on the grounds of the Royal Jubilee Hospital and Nanaimo Regional General Hospital to demonstrate a life-saving intervention. There are more than 50 supervised consumption and overdose prevention sites in B.C. Substantial evidence shows that these services save lives, support patients to remain in the hospital, and provide pathways to voluntary treatment and recovery. Overdose prevention services should be implemented in hospitals immediately for the safety of us all.
Heather Hobbs, RSW Victoria
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November 8, 2024 - Move carefully Re “Involuntary treatment for severe addiction is better than doing nothing” (Nov. 4):
We beg to differ. The evidence on forced care tells us that doing nothing is safer. Involuntary treatment is not only ineffective, but harmful. Our focus should be on increasing access to voluntary, evidence-based care that respects individual readiness which can lead to stronger, more sustainable outcomes.
Angela Welz learned about the harm of forced care after using an Alberta involuntary care program for her teenage daughter Zoe. Their relationship was irreparably broken after that deep betrayal of trust. Zoe died from fentanyl poisoning seven months after being released from the program. We should remember that many of those who die, including teens, only used once or occasionally.
Because of the toxic drug supply, treatment of any form would not have saved them. It’s critical to add that on-demand voluntary care is not available in most areas, and changing that should be our focus. Care is not coerced.
Petra Schulz and Angela Welz, Moms Stop The Harm, Edmonton
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November 3, 2024 - Helen Jennens is the leadership member of the advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm in the Okanagan. She joined the organization after her son died of fentanyl poisoning back in 2016, and has been advocating for change since her other son died of a prescription drug overdose in 2012. Jennens said finding an affordable treatment centre has been a serious challenge for years.
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October 17, 2024 - Alberta’s public substance use surveillance system is significantly under-reporting drug-related deaths, and the gap in data appears to have gotten worse in 2023, according to a prominent Canadian researcher.
“I think they're hiding the data because the data doesn't look good for them,” Petra Schultz said, noting that in 2020 the province stopped sharing neighbourhood-level data for Edmonton and Calgary. The province said it stopped releasing this information to protect privacy and prevent stigmatization.
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October 11, 2024 - We need free treatment beds. We need rapid access to detox and no wait list," said one of the rally's organizers, Corrine Woods. A member of Moms Stop the Harm, she said she lost her own son to an overdose in 2018 and knew first-hand the difficulty of accessing care.
"We have thousands of kids who would voluntarily like to try a road to recovery that is a treatment plan," she said.
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October 11, 2024 - Video/Article: Among the protestors were Michelle Miller and Corrine Woods, members of Moms Stop the Harm who have lost sons to a drug overdose. Corrine worries that involuntary care isn’t the best move, as she believes voluntary care supports are severely lacking and she would rather see investment here instead.
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October 5, 2024 - Listen to the families of drug victims. Re: Liberals and NDP have no time for your daughter’s tragic opioid story — Adam Zivo, Sept. 26
I feel for Greg Sword, who tragically lost his daughter, and echo his demand for immediate action. I, too, lost a child to the toxic drug crisis and understand this father’s grief. I, too, testified to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, one day before the anniversary of my son’s death. During that meeting valuable time was used up by the Conservative representatives with motions.
I found that most members listened to my testimony, except the Conservative critic Laila Goodridge, who came late and spent considerable time on her phone. She had no questions for me, never shook my hand nor expressed condolences, as other members of the committee did.
The organization I co-founded, Moms Stop The Harm, represents thousands of families across the country who have lost or support loved ones. Politicians must listen to those most affected, people who use drugs and their families, especially those with differing voices. Petra Schulz, Moms Stop The Harm co-founder
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August 30, 2024 - A Legacy of Love: International Overdose Awareness Day 2024
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August 27, 2024 - Miranda Ryan, If I had known then, well, I would have done a lot of things differently. For starters, I would have definitely ordered us extra pepperoni on that pizza and a tiramisu each. Our last hike together. Celebrating three months married. But I didn’t. And now I’m an “overdose” widow.
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August 25, 2024 - Ontario's Health Minister announced plans to close half of the supervised consumption sites in the province, while increasing spending on homelessness and addiction treatment centres by nearly $400 million. How do you feel about supervised consumption sites in your community? CBC Radio Broadcast - Leila Attar MSTH member called in.
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July 14, 2024 -
Not enough Re “I’ve been caring for people with opioid addiction for more than a decade. Here are the lessons I’ve learned” (Opinion, July 6):
Doctor Vincent Lam takes the view that some harm-reduction measures are laudable but treatment and recovery are the way forward. No one is saying that treatment and recovery are not important, but we believe they are not enough.
As harm-reduction advocate Euan Thomson recently noted in his own response to this op ed, “We are not in an ‘addiction crisis,’ we are in a mass poisoning that is not addressable through conventional treatment.” Not to mention that conventional treatment can be a Wild West of unregulated programs, with little in the way of evaluation and accountability.
Ruth Fox Moms Stop the Harm, Ottawa
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June 25, 2024 - From Lifeguard Digital Health:
Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH) is a network of Canadian families impacted by substance-use-related harms and deaths. Groups like these have formed to offer each other support and hope. MSTH advocates specifically for change in failed drug policies, provides peer support to grieving families, and assists those with loved ones who use or have used substances.
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June 13, 2024 - In this video, we learn about Alberta’s efforts to crack down on healthcare providers who prescribe safer supply, one young woman’s legal battle to keep her prescription, and how safer supply can mean the difference between life and death.
Cette vidéo parle des efforts déployés par l’Alberta pour sanctionner les prestataires de soins de santé qui prescrivent des substances dans le cadre d’un approvisionnement plus sécuritaire, du combat juridique d’une jeune femme pour conserver sa prescription et de la manière dont l’approvisionnement plus sécuritaire sauve des vies.
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June 9, 2024 - The PROSPER symposium — which stands for Policy Roundtable on Substance Prevention, Education, and Recovery — was moved to a new venue after organizers caught wind of credible threats to the event’s security. Audio recordings leaked before the symposium depicted activists brainstorming ways to disrupt the proceedings, including by dyeing fountains red, shouting down speakers and honking horns.
The last-minute venue change didn’t stop a handful of protestors affiliated with the group Moms Stop the Harm from picketing the event. Some held photographs of lost loved ones. Others commented to on-location news crews at various points throughout the day.
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June 6, 2024 - Two founders of a Vancouver drug user advocacy group that distributed what they said were safe doses of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines to prevent overdoses have been charged with trafficking related offences as a result of police raids last year. Vancouver police said in a statement Friday that members of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) had spoken publicly about trafficking the substances.
Police said charges of possession for the purposes of trafficking were approved on May 31 against 28-year-old Jeremy Kalicum (MSTH Board of Director) and 33-year-old Eris Nyx, who are DULF's co-founders.
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June 4, 2024 - Timothy McConnell, better known as TJ, took his life in January 2021 in a solitary cell at the Edmonton Remand Centre. His mom, Lana Greene, told Global News that going into the PChAD program with TJ was a desperate decision. “It’s hard to explain, but he didn’t think anything was wrong, so he wasn’t wanting any help,” Greene said.
The process broke the trust between her and her son, who was 17 at the time.
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June 2, 2024 - SCOOP: Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police forged a "Coalition of the Willing" to conduct public advocacy supporting UCP drug policy in the run-up to the 2023 election, according to a strategy document obtained by Drug Data Decoded.
Police chiefs and govts understand that a system of control to drive a steady line of 'clients' into privatized pseudo-therapy requires police coercion via drug criminalization.
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June 1, 2024 - Adam Zivo found another monster under his bed – this time it’s the scary “radical harm reductionists.”
Being called a radical by Zivo and the other grifters who look to capitalize off a public health emergency, and benefit from the deaths of our relatives and people in our communities, could not be a higher compliment. I want to contribute to building a world that is radically different from the one these profiteers self-indulgently benefit from – and envision extracting more for themselves from, regardless of the harm and pain they generate.
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May 31, 2024 - A group representing parents who have lost loved ones to the toxic drug crisis were shut out of a drug policy conference in Richmond on Thursday. The venue was changed from Vancouver to Richmond at the last minute after organizers claimed they had information that their forum would be disrupted.
A recording of a meeting of activists was leaked to organizers of the Prosper symposium, organized by the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions.
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May 31, 2024 - If 22 people were being shot each day on Canadian streets, you might expect a federal state of emergency to be called, a coordinated federal-provincial-territorial response, billions of dollars flowing out of government coffers to stop the violence.
The opioid crisis hasn’t received the same kind of all-hands-on-deck approach. Instead, there has been immense politicization of the issue, with different sides arguing different approaches while accusing political opponents of making the crisis worse and literally killing people. In this episode of “It’s Political,” we tackle the question of how to deal with the opioid crisis through different lenses.
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April 24, 2024 - New series Digging Deeper: Canada's Toxic Drug Crisis, exploring the various components that are contributing to the overdose crisis in Canada.
Part 1: We speak with former addict Chris Cull, who has lived to tell his story.
Part 2: We speak with Traci Letts who is Vice-Chair of Moms Stop The Harm. Traci lost her son Mike to a toxic overdose at the age of 31.
Part 3: Dr. Monty Ghosh explains the science behind addiction and the toxicity of drugs.
Part 4: Marcus Gee, columnist with The Globe and Mail joins to discuss the pronounced debate on safe supply and supervised consumption.
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April 19, 2024 - Arlene Last-Kolb is the mother of a man who died from fentanyl poisoning. Manitoba's mobile OPS by Sunshine House report on the success of the program. We need more services for people who use drugs.
"there is a piece of me and my family that is missing. these deaths are preventable" A powerful message
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March 7, 2024 - Traci Letts – who volunteers with the advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm – worries that misinformation and moralizing about the nature of addiction are barriers that no court decision can overturn. “The people dying are the children of lawyers and doctors. They’re hockey players or baseball players. They’re the parents that take their kids to hockey and baseball. They’re family men. They’re women trying to make it through the day, working two jobs.”
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February 29, 2024 - Euan Thomson, leads Each+Every, a national coalition of businesses seeking more inclusive communities ready to respond to the drug poisoning crisis. 2023 will unfortunately be a record-breaking year. Think back to other crises that have affected the world - AIDS deaths in 1995 was a total of 1764 in Canada. We will have that number in ALBERTA in one year not in the country! Where is the sense of urgency?
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February 28, 2024 - A Toxic Year Part 3 - Lisa's story: One of so many lost as opioids claim Indigenous lives at alarming rate Lisa Red Young Man had a giving spirit, struggled with addictions in her adulthood
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February 27, 2024 - A Toxic Year Part 2 - Jordan's story: 'No parent should have to bury their kid' 15-year-old girl's father struggled to get her help, break generational cycle
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February 26, 2024 - Fatality inquiry into remand death. An inquiry is underway in the death of a man (TJ McConnell) at the Edmonton Remand Centre last year. Amanda Anderson reports. - Lana Greene, MSTH Member
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February 26, 2024 - 'Scared I’m gonna lose my life': Fatality inquiry begins into death of Edmonton remand inmate who sought addictions, mental health help. "There are a lot of inmates sitting in the remand centre right now on regular units who have several risk factors for suicide" - Lana Greene, MSTH Member
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February 26, 2024 - Mental health worker says team overloaded at time of inmate death in Edmonton jail. Family, advocates of man (TJ McConnell) who died at Edmonton's Remand Centre calling for reforms - Lana Greene, MSTH Member
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February 26, 2024 - Video and Article - A fatality inquiry got underway Monday morning into the death of a 23-year-old man who died by suicide in a solitary cell at the Edmonton Remand Centre. Timothy McConnell, better known as TJ, took his life in January 2021 - Lana Greene, MSTH Member
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February 26, 2024 - A Toxic Year Part 1 - Stephen's story: 'He might be here today if he would have had a safer supply' An active, curious toddler. A smart, shy child. An adult who struggled with addiction - Brenda Gaunt, MSTH Member
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February 26, 2024 - Statement on Death of Timothy McConnell (“TJ”) at Edmonton Remand - Professor Ben Perrin
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February 23, 2024 - Take 15 minutes to watch The National’s exceptional story about The Alberta Model. In the face of a record number of toxic drug deaths, Alberta is moving away from harm reduction and doubling down on treatment and recovery. The National’s Ian Hanomansing breaks down the Alberta model and why the province thinks it's the best way to solve the drug crisis Sarah Auger - MSTH member
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February 23, 2024 - More than 4 Albertans died — each and every day — from opioids in 2023 These 4 represent the loss from just a single day last year, the deadliest on record - Brenda Gaunt, MSTH member
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February 22, 2024 - A Toxic Year Part 1 - Stephen Wakeman was an active, curious toddler and a smart, shy child. He was also an adult who struggled with addiction. His parents say he knew the risks of street drugs but his addiction was too strong - Brenda Gaunt, MSTH member
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February 22, 2024 - Research Paper The impact of an unsanctioned compassion club on non-fatal overdose - Jeremy Kalicum
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February 22, 2024 - What’s Wrong With Rehab? The lack of accountability in the “Alberta Model” for dealing with drug use - Euan Thomson
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February 20, 2024 - Edmonton detox unit moving; supervised consumption site future unknown. Petra Schulz says there is a need for more beds. She was recently trying to find detox space for someone in the province - Petra Schulz, MSTH Co-Founder
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February 18, 2024 - Red Deer, AB., city council has made history as the first in Canada voting to close an overdose prevention site - Euan Thomson
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February 15, 2024 - Red Deer, AB city council hears passionate support for overdose prevention site. Those who want it shut down also get heard at Thursday public hearing - Wendy Little, MSTH member
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February 13, 2024 - Alberta drug deaths soar to highest level ever recorded
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February 13, 2024 - Advocates say proposed public space bylaw targets city's vulnerable in Edmonton, AB. - Petra Schulz, MSTH Co-Founder
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February 7, 2024 - Latest Harm Reduction Proposals Good But More Needed. Leslie McBain of Moms Stop the Harm says more needs to be done to get people into the programs being offered and to expand services - Leslie McBain, MSTH Co-Founder
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January 31, 2024 - Sturko doesn’t understand the point of the three year pilot, which is to prevent people in possession of a small amount of drugs from entering the criminal justice system. “It’s primarily to keep people who use drugs out of the criminal justice system,” McBain said. “It doesn’t actually have an impact on the number of deaths in B.C.” - Leslie McBain - MSTH Co-Founder
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January 24, 2024 - British Columbia's outgoing chief coroner says it's been "extremely disappointing" to see overdose deaths turned into "political fodder" for critics of harm reduction and decriminalization as the province hits another record toll.
Lisa Lapointe announced Wednesday that 2,511 people died of suspected illicit drug poisoning last year, the highest annual number recorded. Close to 14,000 people have died since the province declared a public health emergency in April 2016, Lapointe told a news conference.
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January 22, 2024 - Samantha Ginter, member of the Moms Stop The Harm network, shared how she lost her partner and father of her children in 2021 to what she calls “failed drug policies”.
She says she currently has family members and friends who use the OPS and believes it is an important tool to keep people safe and families together while connecting people to services they may not otherwise have access to.
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January 15, 2024 - Comment: Prohibition is killing 20 Canadians every day. The reality is that the prohibition of drugs ensures organized crime is the sole provider of toxic drugs - John and Jennifer Hedican (MSTH Members)