Harm reduction & Safe supply

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.

“For young people, [they] often don’t have access to harm reduction services to the extent that older people have,” said DeBeck. “A lot of it is a reluctance to give them access to evidence-based harm reduction programs, I think out of fear that they might encourage substance use among young people or somehow send the wrong message.”

“The impact is that young people aren't given the protections that those evidence-based interventions can provide,” added DeBeck.