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Jul 19 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
Let's talk about #Lethbridge.

Here, you'll find the highest drug poisoning rate in any #Alberta city.

What is happening there is a massacre. 1/8

edmontonjournal.com/news/local-new…
In 2020, shortly after coming to power, @YourAlberta accused the ARCHES supervised consumption site, of financial impropriety and closed it down.

The investigation later tracked every last legitimate penny. 2/8

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…
In this week's critical @edmontonjournal piece, @JunkerAnna reported over 80 deaths per 100,000 in two of three areas of Lethbridge.

Meanwhile, First Nations neighbouring the city, including Piikani and Kainai, are being DEVASTATED by poisonings. 3/8
edmontonjournal.com/news/local-new… Map of southwestern Alberta showing drug poisoning rates per
Over half the former visitors to the Lethbridge supervised consumption site were Indigenous. It was the ONLY inhalation-friendly site in the province.

Roughly half of deaths nowadays follow inhalation drug use. Their only site was closed!!

Where does this leave Albertans? 4/8
#Lethbridge and the policies advanced to remove this life-critical site are a case study in Social Murder.

Not unlike policies designed to slaughter buffalo - primary well of life on the plains - from 1870s on. Or residential schools designed to eradicate cultural heritage. 5/8
Not unlike our continued separation of Indigenous families through child services - often justified by drug use. Nor the outrageous incarceration rates - Indigenous women just passed 50% of the incarcerated female population! 6/8
theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…
This Is Social Murder. Genocide.

We can't bring back the dead, but we can quickly act to reverse course on these deadly policies.

@MikeEllisUCP where are you??? Where's your team? 7/8
Tie this into the story in #Calgary by reading here ⬇️

And please speak out about this racial atrocity of our generation - no better than any other in our history. 8/8
Sneaking in some important analysis by @kim_siever you could definitely check out.

"the more supervised consumption services are used in Lethbridge, the fewer substance-related deaths and EMS responses" 9/8

albertaworker.ca/news/the-lethb… the more supervised consumption services are used in Lethbri

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More from @elsthomson

Euan Thomson Profile picture
Jul 18
Safeworks, #Calgary's only supervised consumption site, will be closed by @YourAlberta in the area hit hardest by drug poisoning (red).

Soon after taking power in 2019, the govt cancelled a planned Calgary East mobile site - 2nd hardest-hit (yellow).

edmontonjournal.com/news/local-new… Map of Calgary showing drug poisoning fatality rates in diff
@YourAlberta @JyotiGondek @DanWMcLean @SonyaSharpYYC @JenniferWyness @YYCTKW @pootmans @chabot4calgary @kourtpenner @CWalcottYYC @gccarra And yes, the province plans to "replace" the SCS capacity with two overdose prevention sites inside shelters (community access barriers currently unclear). But we've already seen how shuttering services plays out in #Edmonton.
We also know how closing the supervised consumption site worked out in #Lethbridge.

It was, incredibly, AB's only supervised inhalation site. Around 50% of poisoning deaths follow inhalation use.

Still think this isn't intentional policy?

lethbridgenewsnow.com/2022/06/06/let…
Read 7 tweets
Euan Thomson Profile picture
Jun 22
Moral Contradictions of the War on Drugs. THREAD 🧵

1.

We know policing increases drug harms

but increase police funding for drug enforcement.

#SupportDontPunish
2.

We move mountains to find viral vaccines

but won't push paper to release replacements for contaminated drugs.

#SupportDontPunish
3.

We ritualize and fetishize alcohol and coffee

but criminalize traditions for opium and coca.

#SupportDontPunish
Read 26 tweets
Euan Thomson Profile picture
Jun 8
Yesterday, @GlobeDebate published the position of Edmonton and Peel police chiefs on drug decriminalization and managing drug poisoning.

I'll point out problems we all need to grapple with if we're going to find the exit to the crisis. 1/19 Decriminalization on its own is insufficient. We need to cha
First, the title. Have to stop you right there, officers! Decrim is not a response to an addiction crisis. It's a response to over-policing that contributes to the drug toxicity crisis. 2/19 Title of police opinion piece: Decriminalization on its own
Since the bulk of organized crime revenue comes from drugs, there's an opportunity here to think at the structure of Prohibition.

With police influence grown in parallel, it's problematic for police to guide policy around drug criminalization. 3/19
Opinion piece: In the face of the appalling rise of opioid d
Read 20 tweets
Euan Thomson Profile picture
Jun 8
Today, concerned people across Alberta are demanding transparency around #addiction treatment. Many of these people have undergone treatment or had loved ones who did.

Here is a story I've never told that helped inform my views on treatment. 🧵 1/12
#ableg #abpoli
The first person I ever knew to die of a drug overdose (i.e. known substance, excessive dose) had attended an expensive, faraway addiction treatment facility just a couple months before. I'll call them Terry. 2/12
When the grieving family tried to piece together what had caused Terry's death - Terry had been treated for their addiction, after all - the family was told by the treatment facility, on no evidence, that Terry had likely succumbed to the "kindling effect". 3/12
Read 12 tweets
Euan Thomson Profile picture
Jun 1
Obviously not going to stay quiet on this disgusting announcement by @jkenney so here goes. Hope you enjoy it Premier. 🧵 1/ Premier statement: "Premier Jason Kenney issued the fol
Premier, what smoke must you be standing in to not see how you normalize alcohol use with your sky palace SCS? You're giving booze bad branding with how normal it's become around #ableg.

THAT is drug use. And if you ever seek help, its lower stigma will make that easier. 2/ Premier: “Today the Government of Canada and the Governmen
Vancouver certainly hasn't been de-policed and VPD effectively works without oversight. Alberta is now almost caught up with BC in drug death rate. And "de facto" decrim is a fairy tale because cops still use drug laws selectively against racialized and poor communities. 3/ Premier statement: “Many cities across Canada have existed
Read 12 tweets

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