Thread by @ShayRD

Independent Pandemic Response Observatory.
This is a body that is referred to to justify the public health measures.
The public's adherence to public health rules would increase
#RealTalkRJ

Evidence needs to be made public.

"We haven't seen modelling since the spring."- @ehyshka

The data will help people buy in to the measures that are being

Shay wonders - What are they hiding? Who benefits from this censorship?
#RedAlert @ryanjespersen #RealTalkRJ

Double Bunking in an ICU is absurd.

Yes, warm bunking is normal in Oil & Gas but double bunking is a huge flag for the capacity of #abpoli health system.

What @ryanjespersen #RealTalkRJ running longer than planned?

Not a surprise to @ehyshka and @hakique I bet.

I ❤️ independent media. In Alberta it is what gives us hope.

How we manage inequities is a story in this pandemic. An important public conversation.
There are certain groups of people who are at higher risk, those of certain ages. There are racial groups, people impacted by a various of issues.
Yesterday, BC healthcare Racism #RealTalkRJ

We are not reporting on surveillance.

Are we even doing surveillance on what is happening in Alberta?

Without data we are in trouble.

In Public Health is very interested in what are the health impacts of inequality - fast typing version of what @ehyshka speaks to on @ryanjespersen
#RealTalkRJ

1 in every 265 people in Alberta have an active #COVID19AB infection. said @hakique
How are we managing that 2 or more people are dying of overdose every day in this province
"It is just a mess"

I can't do this conversation justice - listen here: ryanjespersen.com

"Being a Public Health professor, it is incumbent on me to point out that when Public Health performs really well and when it is resourced and when it is given independence we tackle these issues head on. This is the bread and butter of Public Health" @ehyshka on #RealTalkRJ

"more and more especially in 🇨🇦 and other similar societies we are focused on non communicable disease....they are driven by inequality" @ehyshka
Public Health is interested in the health impacts of inequality -
#RealTalkRJ

.@ehyshka is on fire on @ryanjespersen
"One way I am hopeful, about everything that has transpired is that I hope that people recognize the potential for public health and for strong public health systems to identify these weaknesses in our society" Dr. Elaine Hyshka #RealTalkRJ

So that we can respond better to the nightmare that is Covid-19 (Shay said this, Elaine was better at it)
Enshrine Public Health Standards!
Someone sell me this on a t-shirt damn it
#RealTalkRJ

Health Reform up next and it may be obvious that I am running behind real time on Ryan's podcast #RealTalkRJ.
Sorry friends. I can not do this justice in real time. @ryanjespersen talking #Jeeps and I miss my jeep. I am late listening today bc my car needed into the shop.

As a Medical Officer of Health @hakique has seen a lot! Talking about Health Care these days is tricky because it is such a massive machine. How do you impact meaningful change. What can people do?

The learnings from previous public health emergencies, expert commissions should have taught us 🇨🇦

"We need to tease out real information, from not real information. Democratization of knowledge is a really important thing. I believe that." @hakique on #RealTalkRJ

Reputable information is important.
Experts are key educators, not your bro

"We depend on unelected institutions of civil society that make independent decisions in the interest of the collective good, while considering the needs of minority groups" @hakique

"A more engaged civil society will go a long way to solve some of these issues." - @hakique

Folks thinking that @ryanjespersen #RealTalkRJ is breaking the mold of media because they are talking to experts about topics of importance. This is discouraging Ryan!

It is a tough job to go deeply on these issues. There is value in being able to take the time in an uncensored environment to get into it.

@ehyshka @hakique want to make it clear that MDs or PhDs are not the only experts. People with lived experiences of the issues are experts.

It goes a long way to include people with lived experience to identify the issues and identify the unintended consequences of decisions.

Working on solutions and public health together.
We make change when we hear and learn from people with lived experiences.

Voices of people who use drugs are the reason that @CityofVancouver is moving forward with #Decriminalization. Unanimous vote by Council
#RealTalkRJ

What does this mean for the rest of Canada?

"Public Health is in agreement that this is the way to go. We know that evidence shows criminalizing individual possession is not effective for deterring substance use, if that's the aim. But it is really effective for increasing the harms of substance use." @ehyshka #RealTalkRJ

Criminalization of people, criminalization of drugs =
⬆️Overdose risk
⬆️ HIV and Hep C infections
and a host of negative incomes of substance use that are exacerbated by this.
#RealTalkRJ
Decriminalization is long overdue

Try it in #YVR, See how it goes, evaluate it, roll it out across the country. It won't take long to see the benefits -Shay

Where do we invest 💲 when we address substance use? The vast majority is spend on policing and jails. Even when we say we support a health issue.
#RealTalkRJ

"At the end of the day, the money is still going to criminal justice." Stop enforcing the thousands of charges against people for criminal possession and put those resources into responding to the health care sector to properly address substance use issues. @ehyshka #RealTalkRJ

Unfamiliarity with this? @hakique on #RealTalkRJ recommends that you meet somebody.

Most Canadians use some psychoactive substance, whether that is alcohol or cannabis or whether it is a drug that is currently illegal.

When people envision a person who uses drugs they think of somebody who is poor or from a racial group that they are not familiar with. There are differences there that you are uncomfortable w/. I think that underlies a lot of our apprehensions on many policy issues. #RealTalkRJ

Is this about whether the policy work
or
is this about how comfortable you are with the people it applies too?
Paraphrasing @hakique #RealTalkRJ
"We are at a time where everyone's life literally depends on each other." - Hakique ryanjespersen.com

"We are connected and when somebody is harmed by a policy that is fundamentally unjust, we all ought to stand up and demand change." @hakique on #RealTalkRJ

Since @InsiteVan opened up, the apprehension about supervised consumption have gone down, not up and I would hope that the same would happen in #YEG #RealTalkRJ
The same would happen with decriminalization.

Police encounters are traumatic, especially for some racial groups. To recognize that so many of those encounters have to do with possession of drugs for personal use.

The removal of that interaction with police is really really important. #RealTalkRJ

One of the harms of criminalizing drugs is the interaction with police.

#Decriminalization will make substantive change to racialized people.

#BLM #IndigenousLivesMatter

The same as it relates to the criminalization of sex work.

Y2K style panic in prep for changes to #Cannibas in '18 & what actually happened? Storefront businesses & a large proportion of people and org's capitalizing on this were supporters of criminalizing cannibas #RealTalkRJ

We have to be reflective on these issues.

"Supporting drug decriminalization does not mean endorsing drug use" - @hakique on #RealTalkRJ

Bars are the most renown drug consumption sites.

@ryanjespersen nostalgic for a previous conversation with @hakique on #RealTalkRJ

Sam asks what do we do next? [Good question, next time please don't use the stigmatizing word - addicts. Person first language will never steer you wrong friend.]

#HarmReduction #SupportDontPunish #SafeSupply

The federal government has supported safe supply pilots where they provide pharmaceutical alternatives to illegal drugs.
As you know when you use drugs from the illegal market what you are getting is a mystery.

Safe Supply means people can manage their risk a lot better. {Like less ODs}

Programs are rolling out across the country, they are not rolling out in Alberta. The @jkenney has said that they are not going to do this.
#RealTalkRJ #stigma #deaddontrecovery #safesupply

"We need to be willing to try new approaches, to evaluate those approaches and to innovate." @ehyshka "No matter how much money we throw at the traditional treatment system .... those will only ever appeal to a subset of the population of people that are using drugs. #RealTalkRJ

"If we want to cut down on deaths and we want to prevent family and friends from grieving those losses we really need to be willing to innovate and try new things" @ehyshka on #RealTalkRJ

I am hopeful that as more experience becomes known with #SafeSupply programs in other parts of 🇨🇦 that the @YourAlberta will reconsider that position. "It is something that is very promising" @ehyshka on #RealTalkRJ

"Decriminalization alone will definitely not reduce overdose deaths, it will encourage people to be more open, talking about their substance use and encourage more people to seek help and to seek out healthcare" @ehyshka
#RealTalkRJ

"Unless we can get people out of the illegal market and connect them to safer pharmaceutical alternatives I think we will continue to see overdoses" @ehyshka with @hakique shaking his head in agreement on #RealTalkRJ

Providing alternatives to the illegal market also means that people rely less on illegal activities to generate the vast 💲 required to purchase drugs in the illegal market. It'll ⬇️profits going to trans national orgs that are benefiting from the multi billion💲drug trade.

Discussion on JK stigmatizing quote.
We have seen how beneficial it is to have a non-judgmental group of people who can help someone who use drugs.
@hakique on #RealTalkRJ

Spoiler #QueensGambit - tranquilizer, Beth breaking into the dispensary as a result of a change in policy.

We need to confront the framework of bad policy.
ryanjespersen.com

The tv show referencing removed as not everyone has started watching the show.
Sorry friends.

A #PublicHealth approach to substance use includes
✅ decriminalization
✅ harm reduction
✅ treatment
✅ primary prevention
We've the evidence to support this work and we need governments to allow Public Health approaches we'd c less people dying #RealTalkRJ #peopleoverprofit

Drug use often reflects how opportunity and quality of life is distributed through a population.
@hakique #RealTalkRJ

"It comes down to what opportunities and quality of life can we afford as a society to people who we've pushed to the edges?" This is a❓ re: Covid, #BLM #TRC and giving Indigenous people the rights they deserve and it is the same with the overdose epidemic. @hakique #RealTalkRJ

Ryan: Can't you tell how much @ehyshka @hakique give a damn about what we're talking about, how much they care about people. the human side of this conversation.
Thanks for joining us for a meaningful and focused conversation on public health policy on #RealTalkRJ

@threadreaderapp please unroll