🍉 Nurse Ranger 💊 Profile picture
Mar 5, 2020 24 tweets 12 min read Read on X
Hear ye, hear ye!

Ye old #Alberta government has released its FLAWED, and GASLIT #SCS review report.

Associate Minister @jasonluan88 promised an unbiased perspective.

The only ones who look stupid here, are those of us who believed him.
#AbLeg

open.alberta.ca/publications/9… Image
Before we dive into the report, let’s talk about the Associate Minister and his esteemed panel for a moment.

Not a single member who has worked at or accessed an SCS; surely criminologists and retired cops will present an unbiased approach. 😒

alberta.ca/supervised-con…
Next, let’s see what the Ass. Minister has had to say about SCS and #harmreduction.

Surely his beliefs about Big Pharma funding research for harm reduction, and that #naloxone is an enabler couldn’t have impacted the committees viewpoints? ImageImage
But what about the altruistic mandate of the SCS review panel?

Specifically out of scope of the review panel:
-“the merits of SCS as a harm reduction tool”
-“Other social issues such as housing and homelessness”

Because why would we measure any positive impacts? Image
Is this legal? Are we supposed to be sympathetic to a group of people ‘installing razor blades under door handles’?

This. Report. Is. A. Sham. Image
Well there’s no shortage of unnecessary and blown out data in this report; here we have a fancy graph that should teach us one thing:

Siri show me ‘Observer-Expectancy Effect’

Researcher: Hey Tom, d’ya think crime is up?

Tom: umm...ya

Researcher: perfect thanks! Image
Some people don’t use opioids...and they still access SCS.

So the GoA would now like to scapegoat those people because they apparently don’t deserve a safe and supportive environment.

Fun fact: Fentanyl is hiding in meth too, you clowns. Image
“Unless the substance is adulterated, methamphetamine users are generally at less risk of dying from overdose”

WHAT?! Unless the substance is adulterated?

So they should just take their chances on the street, is that right?

Translation: people who use drugs don’t deserve care. Image
Glad we dusted off the old adage that Harm Reduction enables higher risk behaviour.

This has only been disproved countless times—but this government will forgo evidence because ‘some presenters’ said so.

This. Is. Not. How. Evidence. Works. Image
Here’s another utterly useless graph for you visual learners. That extra low dark blue bar? That’s a city that doesn’t have an SCS.

Could it be? Are we in an economic downturn?

This is called a confounding variable; this graph is useless. Much like this panel. Image
Here we have a statement that 40% of @ARCHESLeth staff are ‘addicts in recovery’ and this is somehow a bad thing?

Does the panel realize that many people who work in addictions have lived and living experience?

This is a fishing expedition, with Capt. Luan at the helm. Image
Hey #Alberta were you wondering if you could put a price on Human Life?

This panel did.

$432/ unique client. That’s too much money if you are someone with an addiction according to this panel. Image
Hilariously this is an argument in favour of SCS. $47 per visit.

The alternative however, is $200-400/ ambulance trip and upwards to $1500 / emergency department utilization.

But no go on, tell us how 47 bucks per visit is breaking our economy. Image
Homelessness was not part of this review. But we found some way to use homelessness as a talking point against SCS, so we will make an exception.

Translation: some people didn’t like visible poverty, so we are going to target the homeless even further. Image
Wow. What the actual f**k?

A) people who inject stimulants are at risk of HIV/HCV
B) when inhalation is offered, risk decreases because it is way safer than injection
C) people who use meth do not deserve to be vilified this way Image
But holy shit.

This review panel perpetuated a stigmatizing and misinformed title like ‘government-supported crack houses’?

This is the group of ‘professionals’ we are supposed to believe?

This is shameful rhetoric formatted to look academic. It is fraud. Image
Phew! I was worried nobody would mention #RuleOfLaw in this report! But we did it, we squeezed in just enough rhetoric!

Oh wait. SCS are legal and operate under exemption from the CDSA as determined by the federal government.

But please, tell us what one resident said again. Image
So now we get to the recommendations, and while I won’t spend time with every one of them, I will say most of them are fundamentally flawed. Here are some examples!

Exhibit A: let’s bring in coercive treatment models into low-barrier services! Image
Exhibit B:
#MedicineHat and #Calgary Forest Lawn don’t need consumption sites.

Sure, I mean, people are dying there too but screw em’ ammarite? Image
Exhibit C: let’s re-shape our needle exchange protocols! This is undoubtedly an ode to the old 1:1 exchange policies that increased HIV/HCV transmission rates in the past. Image
But it’s not all bad news: the panel at least acknowledged that people have a fundamental right to public washrooms. No argument here.

Pretty terrible this suggestion is being made to support businesses and residents, not the poor people having to go to the bathroom outside. Image
In summary, this report belongs in the garbage bin.

It is trash.
The panel is trash.
The premise is trash.

@jasonluan88 you should be ashamed of this witch hunt, but I guess.... promises made, promises kept. Image
Also, can we talk about how you gave a hate-mongering post-media troll access to this report before anyone else?

Do you even know what transparency is? Image
To the rest of #Alberta, please do not give up on SCS or #HarmReduction.

Supervised consumption services:
✅Reduce overdose death
✅Decrease HIV/HCV transmissions
✅Increase access to health and social services
✅Decrease public drug consumption

#AbLeg #ABpoli Image

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More from @CoreyRanger

Feb 1
Have you read this review of #SafeSupply from PHO Dr Bonnie Henry yet?

Here’s a 🧵 of my key takeaways.

#Bcpoli A review of prescribed safer supply programs across British Columbia: recommendations for future actions
Yes, the biggest takeaway is that prescribed safer supply is here to stay. Or at least that it should be.

And we are not going to call it that anymore. Dr. Henry has recommended the term now is “prescribed alternatives”
There’s a lot of unpack in this review but we now have the Provincial Health Officer and @bccoroners aligned on safe sup—prescribed alternatives.

✅it saves lives
✅it reduces harms
✅it improves life physical + mental health
✅we need improved access

www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/bir…
Read 18 tweets
Jan 11
📣NEW📣

Very important evaluation for #SafeSupply in BC

Effect of Risk Mitigation Guidance opioid and stimulant dispensation on mortality and acute care visits during dual public health emergencies: retrospective cohort study



#bcpolibmj.com/content/384/bm…
“This study found that RMG opioid dispensations were associated with a reduced likelihood of all cause and overdose related mortality among people with a diagnosis of opioid use disorder.”

This is a massive study of almost 12,000 people. Graphical depiction of the protection provided by at least one day of RMG dispensation. One graph shows reduction in all cause mortality and the other graph shows reduction in overdose mortality related to access to RMG.
“The protective effect of RMG opioid dispensations on mortality is congruent with findings from an evaluation of a prescribed opioid safer supply programme in Ontario in which mortality was rare among participants receiving medications”

cmaj.ca/content/194/36…
Read 9 tweets
Apr 17, 2023
Did you know?

1️⃣BC’s #SafeSupply is accessible to around 4,535 people

2️⃣BC has around 101,000 people who would qualify for an ‘opioid use disorder’ diagnosis

3️⃣That’s an accessibility rate of <5%

4️⃣It’s year 7 of this public health emergency

Source: news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/esc… A sweet graphic Corey made ...
That 101,000 doesn’t even include people who use episodically, recreationally, or first time users

Which makes that <5% estimate GENEROUS, at best

Meanwhile, the carnage worsens and the drug supply volatility kills our loved ones

#SafeSupply now

#bcpoli From January 1st to Decembe...
We act like BC has a viable and accessible #SafeSupply, but we don’t

The cons will say the streets are flooded with safe supply, but it isn’t

The BC Gov will say they are different from the callous Alberta government, but they aren’t

Alberta Model™️=BC Model™️ Freddy from scooby doo unma...
Read 4 tweets
Apr 16, 2023
Alright, as promised, I will now begin the penultimate #HR23 thread.

Be prepared for many typos. “Opening ceremonies for Har...
First, last night’s opening ceremonies was fantastic. In particular the opening land acknowledgement was a perfect way to get us started.

Watch this video from @Talkingdrugs to see for yourself (my phone was dead at the time 😩)
The opening ceremonies was very inspirational, especially the awards ceremonies.

People like Gabby Bruning, Diane Lloyd, and Andriy Yarovoi are beacons of hope.
Read 29 tweets
Jan 25, 2023
The #AlbertaModel at work. 🧵

“A Medicine Hat-based recovery organization, which has to date received six-figures in government funding, has endorsed an anti-supervised consumption site ad campaign in the U.S.”

First, a must read from @JeremyAppel1025

open.substack.com/pub/theorchard…
This attack on supervised consumption services is not a one-off. It’s a pattern of misinformation.

From @ehyshka:

“It is unfortunate to see an Alberta-based organization lobbying the United States government against supporting this intervention,”

#ableg
Unfortunate, but not surprising. There is a coordinated movement underway to shift public opinion away from #HarmReduction. A movement heavily influenced by the misinformation machine in #Alberta.
Read 15 tweets
Jan 15, 2023
11,000+ British Columbians

On April 14, 2016 BC declared a public health emergency in response drug poisoning deaths.

Since that time, the unregulated drug supply has become more toxic and more unpredictable.

Since that time, at least 11,000 people in BC have died.

#bcpoli “A graph showing the increase of illicit drug deaths as th
Our most recent @bccoroners data is from October 2022. There is no doubt that we will get year-end update in the coming weeks.

And with that update, we will get another round of staged placations.

More grim milestones announced.

More “we’re doing our best”. “179 or 5.8 per day - that’s the number of British Colum
It’s important to note that we are not doing our best. In fact, our incrementalist approach to unregulated drugs is causing harm.

Many outside of BC believe we have widespread access to #SafeSupply.

That is lie.

BC’s “safe supply” is not accessible to the majority in need. “Tell your MLA that safe supply is not effective unless it
Read 11 tweets

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