Harm reduction & Safe supply

Oregon voters passed Measure 110 in November 2020, which put an end to caging people who choose to consume drugs that the government prohibits. The drug decriminalization measure went into effect on February 1, 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—a time when lockdowns and social distancing policies cut off people who use drugs from lifesaving harm reduction and treatment programs while exacerbating the isolation and despair that drive self‐​medication.

https://archive.ph/jmK0s

Overdose prevention centers (OPCs) are a proven harm‐​reduction strategy, begun in Switzerland in 1986. There are 147 sanctioned OPCs in 16 countries and 91 locations, including two in New York City, which announced they had reversed more than 1000 overdoses a year and a half after they opened. This saved the city millions of dollars in ambulance and emergency services.

Edmonton's Boyle-McCauley neighbourhood suffered 155 community member deaths between just two service agencies in the last three months, coinciding with mass displacement of encampment dwellers. During this time, a demolition permit was granted, presumably to owner Katz Group Real Estate, for the former Boyle Street Community Services building.

First Nations people continued to die from toxic drugs at a higher rate than non-First Nations people in British Columbia in the first six months of 2023, according to the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA).

First Nations people died at six times the rate of non-First Nations people from January to June 2023 while the number of First Nations people who died from toxic drugs increased by 24.7 per cent compared to the same period in 2022.

A London, Ont., doctor who leads Canada's longest running safe opioid supply program told a federal health committee that politicians and others spreading disinformation around addiction are taking the focus away from care and causing more deaths.

Another politician campaigning over the bodies of the dead.