Thread by @profbenperrin

Tune in now to watch Part 1 of the "Overdose" virtual book launch!

Hearing from Shelda Castor on how Indigenous people are affected by the #opioidcrisis:

"People aren't listening to them."

Hearing from Jordan Westfall @canadian_safe

"When I heard you were writing a book, I was like, we need this...otherwise it just becomes an echo chamber of people talking to each other who support policies rather than broadening the movement"

Jordan Westfall: "One thing I've learned through all this is complacency is fatal....unless we drastically change what we're doing across the country it is going to continue and it's going to worsen."

Hearing now from @leslie_mcbain co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm at the "Overdose" virtual book launch

Leslie lost her only child, Jordan Miller, to a drug overdose in 2014, when he was just 25 years old.

momsstoptheharm.com

"Our children were not bad people. They had experiences that led them into addiction."

Listening to @leslie_mcbain co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm:

"We learned that stigma is probably the single biggest factor in not having good drug policies...we realized this was one big fight we were up against"

"We are advocating as hard as we can for decriminalizing people who use drugs. Jail is not a place for anyone to get well. And, in fact, it exacerbates the poor mental health of many people."

- @leslie_mcbain co-founder Moms Stop the Harm at the "Overdose" virtual book launch

Moms Stop the Harm provides invaluable support and resource to help those grieving the loss of loved ones during the #opioidcrisis and supporting those with loved ones in "active addiction"

momsstoptheharm.com

"The grief becomes who you are. The grief becomes a part of you. It never goes away...we are going to continue to advocate for what is real and compassionate for people who use drugs." @leslie_mcbain

Incredibly powerful and moving to see the family members and their loved ones lost, but never forgotten during the ongoing #opioidcrisis

momsstoptheharm.com/our-loved-ones

"We can't prosecute our way out of this."

"Criminalizing people is pointless at best and cruel at worst."

#opioidcrisis

"Trying to seize illicit fentanyl at the border is like looking for a needle in a haystack. 1.9 million pieces of mail come to Vancouver from China every month and fentanyl has been shipping in packages as small as greeting cards."

"Globally the war on drugs has failed to eradicate or significantly disrupt supply. More alarmingly, as we've seen increases in global drug seizures, drugs have become less costly and more potent."

"We've seen this before with alcohol prohibition...you seize more heroin, you get more fentanyl and even more potent carfentanyl...the current opioid crisis was predicted three decades before it hit a boiling point."

"Opioid use disorder is a chronic, relapsing condition...someone with moderate childhood trauma is 7 to 10 times more likely to develop a substance use disorder."

"Fentanyl is a potent pain killer...many people who use drugs are self-medicating the physical, emotional, psychological, intergenerational pain in their lives."

"Three main reasons we use criminal law are denunciation, deterrence & rehabilitation. Given what we now know, how can we continue to heap condemnation on people who use drugs? Criminalizing drug use doesn't have any deterrent effect. Prison doesn't rehabilitate."

"70% of federal inmates are admitted with substance use issues...when released they are significantly more likely to die of an illicit drug overdose."

"The criminal law has no place in our society addressing substance use. The majority of people dying from drug overdoses are dying alone."

"People who use drugs know that as long as this is a criminal activity, society will continue to condemn and judge them. We need a compassionate and evidence-based approach."

Here are the main recommendations in "Overdose" - The "Vancouver Declaration on Responding to the Opioid Crisis"

overdosebook.ca/vancouver-decl…

"One of the justifications for criminalizing opioids were claims of morality. 2/3 of Canadians identify as Christian so if we're going to change our approach we need to bring faith into the conversation"

"I now understand I was an unsaved or cultural Christian. I've turned my life over to him. Part of my journey has been being on my own Damascus road."

"God deeply loves and cares for us even when we are from him. We don't experience lasting change because of laws telling us what to do. We see a saviour who spent much of his time on earth with social outcasts."

"I began to see people differently, through the eyes that Jesus would have. He loves people who use drugs. He doesn't condemn them or demand they first change to deserve his love. He promises hope, healing, forgiveness and a new life for everyone."

"On safe supply and decriminalization the current federal Liberal government has fallen tragically short...Prime Minister Trudeau said no to decriminalizing drugs because he was having too much of a problem legalizing cannabis."

"Imagine any other public health emergency where a politician chose politics over the best available evidence about what would save lives. It would be a national scandal. They would be compelled to resign."

"Conservative politicians bear much of the blame for demonizing drug users and opposing life-saving medical interventions like supervised consumption sites."