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 Police — included apparent plans for dismantling the May 9 pro-Palestine encampment protest.
Moms Stop the Harm co-founder Petra Schulz responds to the news that BC's miniscule safe supply pilot programs will end take-home prescriptions, throwing the lives of thousands into disarray and imminent danger.
The Alberta government has yet to release its proposed Compassionate Intervention Act but indicated in 2023 that the Act would extend existing legislation for forced abstinence of children to adults. Documents show that survival and other data are not tracked after children exit the system.
The Globe & Mail is reporting top-level allegations that Marshall Smith, former chief of staff to the Alberta premier, interfered in AHS procurement. If a forensic investigation proceeds, it must extend to the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction, which Smith oversaw from 2019 to 2022.
The first legal decision favouring supervised consumption site users in Alberta since 2020 could turn the tide against five years of site closures.
Drug Data Decoded continued breaking important stories in Canadian drug policy through 2024, with intersections at policing, encampments and privatization of public services.
Documents reveal new details about the recovery community grant competition hurried through the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction in 2023. The Ministry continues to withhold details about the recipient previously hinted at by Drug Data Decoded.
Documents show the United Conservatives were working with city councillors intent on driving the closure of supervised consumption services in Red Deer as early as 2022.
Guest post: Police are invested in the sale, procurement & consumption of sex work & certain drugs. Their publicly funded communications reflect this – an opportunity for media.
Unannounced by the Alberta government, all signs point to the controversial UCP-aligned recovery organization bagging a lucrative contract for Calgary's new centre.
Calgary city council took a defiant stance against the Alberta government's attempt to have council do its dirty work. For once, the trash took itself out in Alberta.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Local advocates say supervised consumption services must be expanded and improved with drug inhalation capacity. A rally will be held on Tuesday, October 29.
Safe supply
Drug User Liberation Front co-founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum held a press conference with their lawyers on October 15, 2024 to correct disinformation about the compassion club and provide a legal update.
drug user liberation
Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy Vancouver, Migrant Students United UBC, Climate Justice UBC, UBC Social Justice Centre, CUPE 2278 Executive Committee and eight more student-led groups speak out.
!["Dear Paul ... [redacted] ... Thanks, Evan"](/content/images/size/w600/2024/09/PXL_20240918_131849751-2.jpg)
Freedom of Information
The Premier's office was in contact with the University of Calgary President's office during the peaceful May 9 Palestine solidarity demonstration. But after months of work, the events surrounding the violent deployment of riot police remain shrouded in secrecy.
Alberta model
An app that privatizes health information of recovery patients is aimed at Alberta shelters, correctional facilities and supervised consumption sites. In one case, data from the app that showed a negative outcome was suppressed, but the government still publicly reported it.
News
My Recovery Plan was implemented to evaluate and manage substance use treatment waitlists across Alberta. Documents reveal how it denies patients informed consent and control of their personal health information.
News
Documents reveal Edmonton Oilers executives pressure the City and Police to clear unhoused people from near Oilers property, weaponizing decampments and water station relocation to address safety concerns.
racial capitalism
Intervention and regulation of the drug supply is indeed the only way out of British Columbia’s forever toxic drug emergency. But last week, the BC NDP rejected another high-level recommendation to create frameworks for non-medicalized access to opioids and other drugs.
The author and addiction physician continues disguising reactionary talking points as medical fact through Globe and Mail op-eds. In his latest, he misrepresents death rates in Timmins, belittles harm reduction and appears to cozy up to Poilievre's abstinence-focused drug strategy. In his latest of many Globe and Mail
drug user liberation
The BC Association of People on Opiate Maintenance, Surrey Union of Drug Users, Care Not Cops, Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy Vancouver Chapter & Crackdown respond to recent coverage on pharmacy kickbacks, and the repercussions for them and the people they work with.
Clinicians, parents and people who use drugs recall a recent past before the control-obsessed Alberta government vilified, scapegoated and denied regulated opioid access for those at highest risk. A short film by CATIE. Watch this. Background reading from Drug Data Decoded: * Ophelia Black v. the UCP * What's wrong
Court dates for University of Calgary encampment began this week. With the first issued ticket failing to reach the prosecutor, police dodged evidence disclosure. This should raise questions around police accountability. Update, June 18, 2024: The arresting officer showed up at Euan Thomson's home on June 17 and
Three complaints submitted to Calgary Police Commission and the CPS Professional Standards Section. Warning: this piece contains graphic video of police brutality. Proceed accordingly. Since May 9, Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld has worked hard to concoct a narrative that serves his interests and those of the officers and decision