Fentanyl traffickers are murderers, plain and simple On a warm Sunday, October afternoon, the kind of fall day when it seems anything is possible, I went to a funeral. I knew the dead man by proxy. I never met him. One of those things a dutiful partner does because it's the right thing to do. He was dead at 36. Fentanyl. Another casualty of the opioid epidemic ravaging cities and towns alike. Last summer a hometown buddy told me his daughter's friend, 14 at the time and with her whole life in front of her, was having a limited-time engagement at a local funeral parlour. [continues 439 words]
Drugs - legal and illegal - have so come to dominate the conversation among federal, provincial and territorial ministers of health that perhaps we should start calling them ministers of drugs? At their most recent meeting, held last week in Edmonton, they discussed the following issues: legalization of cannabis, opioids and the overdose crisis, pharmacare, mental health and addiction, tobacco control and antimicrobial resistance as a result of overuse of antibiotics. Each of those issues is pressing for different reasons, but let's focus on the one with a hard deadline for action: cannabis. [continues 656 words]
The solution lies in public education, not punishment, writes Terry Lake. Recently, I attended a meeting hosted by We the Parents, a Kanata organization trying to address the challenge of addictions and the very real tragedies that befall affected families. I saw grieving parents struggling to understand both the complexities of addiction and the way our health and criminal justice systems are responding to it. Understandably, many who attended were looking for straightforward, actionable solutions to this crisis. They were met with a response by one former senior police officer that those selling drugs should be given harsher sentences. While it may seem appealing to go after the dealers instead of the user, in fact, many dealers are themselves struggling with addiction and using whatever tools are at hand, including selling drugs, to cope with that addiction. [continues 590 words]
The evidence points to an urgent need, say Elaine Hyshka and Cameron Wild. Last week, Health Canada issued the approvals to establish supervised consumption services in Edmonton. Scientific evidence consistently supports the individual and community benefits of these services, and local data demonstrate an urgent need for them in our inner city. Unfortunately, some people allege ("Safe injection sites will hurt vulnerable communities," Oct. 21) the scientific evidence used to support Health Canada's decision is biased and not credible. We write to correct this misrepresentation of facts. [continues 582 words]
In Alberta, as in other provinces, this will be the winter of the weed. On Friday, the government will (finally) stop surveying the public and inviting submissions on what the retailing system for legal marijuana ought to look like here. It will have to finally go ahead and create the damned thing: write, debate, and pass a law implementing its chosen principles. If you live elsewhere, your government is also struggling through the guts of this process. But the political stakes are probably a little smaller, and as far as I can tell there is much less suspense. Federal pot legalization has created a special problem for that weirdest of Canadian anomalies: a New Democratic government of Alberta. [continues 737 words]
Did anyone expect the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees to decide the sale of legal marijuana is best put in the hands of private enterprise? Delegates to the union's convention in Edmonton on the weekend passed a resolution that - gasp - "all cannabis retail outlets be publicly owned and operated by the Government of Alberta or one of its regulated agencies." Union members - or more precisely, their executive and the employees they hire - rely on dues to keep the lights on at the AUPE office. The addition of a few thousand card-carrying marijuana retail workers would add a shine to the AUPE's ledgers. [continues 330 words]
Ontario's proposed liquor-style monopoly would keep black market, cost taxpayers We need a made-in-B.C. solution to cannabis legalization that pays attention to public health and safety, but also considers economic development in B.C.'s mature cannabis industry. Speaking to the recent meeting of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said it was "important to get it [cannabis legalization] right." "We are unique in B.C.," the minister said, adding that we have a "long, established history." [continues 714 words]
Drug's rise shows need for pivot on illegal substances, such as improving social supports and better understanding supply chains In times of high demand for a product or service, existing businesses are often blindsided by new players offering something cheaper, better or faster. Traditional distribution networks are challenged, and new products flood the market. The term "disruption" is commonly used these days to describe what is happening to different parts of the economy, but it has not yet been applied to illegal drug markets - even though that's precisely what's happening. [continues 737 words]
Dealers who hand out drugs laced with fentanyl could face manslaughter charges if their customers die, B.C. Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth said recently. It's a harsh measure, but nothing else seems to stem the waves of poison that are killing people across the province. When even dead customers are not enough to stop a callous retailer, society must put its collective conscience where the dealer's is absent. Farnworth's suggestion is not new. Other jurisdictions, fed up with the senseless deaths, are coming down hard on those who, in the minister's words, are "dealing death." [continues 510 words]
Dealers who hand out drugs laced with fentanyl could face manslaughter charges if their customers die, B.C. Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth said recently. It's a harsh measure, but nothing else seems to stem the waves of poison that are killing people across the province. When even dead customers are not enough to stop a callous retailer, society must put its collective conscience where the dealer's is absent. Farnworth's suggestion is not new. Other jurisdictions, fed up with the senseless deaths, are coming down hard on those who, in the minister's words, are "dealing death." [continues 522 words]
As little as five years ago, we imagine most people would have scoffed at the idea of needing a special group to pick up discarded needles in the community. Though the Comox Valley is not as badly affected as others, which are in the middle of a needle epidemic directly related to the opioid crisis that has killed so many across B.C. in the last several years, it isn't immune, either. The provincial statistics for 2017 to date are horrifying. This province has never faced a drug threat like that of fentanyl. [continues 224 words]
As legalized pot looms, an ER physician argues we're unprepared for a serious health syndrome That was definitely vomit, I thought as I stepped in a slippery substance and caught the rail of the stretcher to avoid sliding underneath. That bilious smell does not come out of shoes. After ordering an intravenous, a cocktail of anti-emetics - and a change of footwear for myself - I run through a mental list. What causes a 14-year-old patient to vomit like this? Appendicitis? Meningitis? Overdose? [continues 656 words]
Action needed as legalization looms, Dr. Jessica Ross says. That was definitely vomit, I thought as I stepped in a slippery substance and caught the rail of the stretcher to avoid sliding underneath. That bilious smell doesn't come out of shoes. After ordering an intravenous, a cocktail of anti-emetics and a change of footwear for myself, I run through a mental list. What causes a 14-year-old patient to vomit like this? Appendicitis? Meningitis? Overdose? As an emergency room physician, it's always Big Bad Diagnoses that run through my mind first. [continues 639 words]
A grandparent's prayer on the move to legalize marijuana use In speaking of how we were all united in so many simple but important ways on this earth, John F. Kennedy once said: "Our basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." What follows is this mortal grandfather's prayer for his grandchildren. For as it is true that we all cherish our children's future so do we hold so dear that of our grandchildren. In a way, we perhaps see them as our envoys into a future time. As they give us hope for a better world, our heart aches with longing for a world of many tomorrows that will at least be safe and welcoming for them. [continues 507 words]
Vancouver's experience isn't very encouraging, writes Warren Champion. The news tells us the epicentre of opioid/fentanyl deaths appears to be situated in the urban core of Edmonton, specifically, in the communities of Central McDougall and McCauley. The three levels of government created an organization named AMSISE - Access to Medically Supervised Injection Services. AMSISE applied to the federal government on May 1 for a waiver that would allow approved sites to provide supervised injection services. The rationale given was "the spike in opioid-related overdose deaths has pushed the need for an effective set of responses into the forefront for community and government." [continues 618 words]
Thirteen Canadians a day were hospitalized for an opioid overdose in 2014-2015, according to the Canadian Institute of Health Information, and the rate of opioid poisoning hospitalizations has been steadily rising. What began with the over-prescription of opioids such as OxyContin, a painkiller once thought to have a low potential for addiction, led to the diversion of legal drugs to the illegal market, and later to the dramatic expansion of the illegal production of fentanyl. As the horror stories of addiction and death multiply, it is clear that what was once a medical issue is now a population-health crisis. [continues 634 words]
For a government that promised to legislate using evidence-based science, the rapid approach of legalized marijuana in Canada is starting to look like a case study in blind faith. Last week, federal justice officials issued the next round of details in their impending pot law. In addition to existing impaired-by-drug laws that police are already using to prosecute drugged drivers, three new criminal offences are destined to be born to deal with pot-impaired driving all based on the quantity of THC found in a person's body. [continues 388 words]
It must have been a busy meeting. A couple of weeks ago, Canada's federal and provincial justice and public safety ministers met in Vancouver for two days of meetings. They talked about delays in the criminal system and reforms to the Criminal Code over mandatory minimum sentencing provisions. About changes to the bail system and simpler and faster court proceedings. They talked about national security legislation and the safety of Canadians, about the legalization of marijuana and the nuances of home cultivation, and the health and safety effects of the drug, both on adults and the particular risks for young people. There was discussion about changing the rules on drunk driving to make it easier for police officers to require drivers to submit to breath testing, and on and on. [continues 361 words]
There are concerns that once pot is legalized for recreational use, it'll be flying off the shelves at such a rate that those who justifiably need it for pain - medical users - won't be able to get their stash. Cannabis growers have been expanding their operations as fast as possible, and Health Canada is issuing more licences, but it still might not be enough to meet the coming demand. Some analysts expect a countrywide shortage once the cannabis market goes legit in July 2018. [continues 310 words]
