I used to think a throne speech was a soliloquy delivered from the toilet by a weird cousin. But it's actually when the government tells about its priorities for the coming session. Today BC is gonna explain how it's all about public safety now. Now "awaiting the arrival of the Lieutenant Governor." (which is also old slang for when the dealer is waiting for a re-up from the supplier)

Press conference. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim announcing partnership between city, cops & health authority in addressing mental health & addictions. $2.5 mill to go to VCH for 58 new mental health workers. Premier Eby talking about public safety challenges, how the streets are worse since the start of the pandemic. Emphasizing partnerships with law enforcement. Support for Car 87 expansion (pairing cops & mental health workers)

Abstinence advocate using nasty language, blame, scapegoating of drug users at BC's Select Standing Committee on Health (drug toxicity and overdose crisis) in Tuesday presentation from Westminster House Society - a drug rehab centre. #Thread 🧵with quotes CW "Harm reduction advocacy groups stigmatize recovery and discriminate against abstinence. These groups have victimized addicts. They do not need sympathetic pity and concern for their suffering or misfortunes. They need help."

Saskatchewan going ahead with plan to switch all 3,534 methadone patients to either 🗑Methadose (cherry or sugar free) or 🆗Metadol-D.
SK must learn from BC's catastrophic experiment with Methadose & the misery and death it is still causing. thestarphoenix.com/news/saskatche… Feb 2014: BC forcibly switched 17,000 methadone patients onto Methadose. Most of us found it didn't have legs, lasting only 12-14 hrs. Ppl got dopesick & had to top up from an illicit supply that was becoming contaminated with fent. BC gov never listened. crackdownpod.com/episodes/c698n…

Lots of benzo-dope blackouts in Vancouver over last few days. People just dropping off the radar. Has me worried. Benzos showed up in down in 2018/19, but they really invaded the drug supply over the pandemic. This is not like the old fent overdose crisis. This is a new crisis. Benzo-dope ODs & blackouts take hours & days from you. I'm missing 3 days from this. But friends are missing months. Prohibition can steal the whole person in one moment. But it can also steal you more slowly, in hours, days and months, until you are missing parts of yourself.

"Don't let them do it without you" - advice I got from Portuguese drug user activists reflecting on their own country's unfinished decriminalization program. That's what @INPUD's new report on global decrim efforts says too. Nothing about us without us. inpud.net/sites/default/… Today, Mayor @kennedystewart proposed a decriminalization regime to the federal government, co-written by the Vancouver police. Drug user activists found the details via the media. kennedystewart.ca/second_submiss…

In #FordNation's backlash dystopia, #OpioidSymposium2018 kicks off. @CAPUD2016 @momsstoptheharm, me & many others present tomorrow. Will ON minister of health @celliottability decide we "have merit" and drop by? Watch the livestream tomorrow to find out: meetview.com/opioidsympo201… Rally for Overdose Prevention Sites. Let's tell those Ford Nation deniers that OPSs "have merit." Help or get out of the way. Tomorrow. 12:30. Toronto. Outside of #OpioidSymposium2018 @TorontoOPS facebook.com/events/2127825…