Canada’s other health crisis: As overdoses surge, officials call on government to decriminalize illi

[JacksinPA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...um=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

Canada’s other health crisis: As overdoses surge, officials call on government to decriminalize illicit drugs

TORONTO — The novel coronavirus was on the march across Canada, but it was a different public health crisis that turned Shannon Krell's world upside down.

Her brother hadn’t shown up for work, which was unusual. She called the police to have someone check on the 46-year-old, but a friend arrived first and made the sad discovery.

Ryan Krell had died of an accidental drug overdose — another life lost to a crisis that has killed more than 15,400 people in Canada since 2016. Their number has increased in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic — and perhaps, officials say, because of it.


Ryan Krell and his dog, Osito. (Family photo)
Now a growing chorus, including top public health officials, the premier of British Columbia and the nation’s police chiefs, is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to decriminalize the possession of illicit drugs for personal use.

It’s a shift Krell supports — even if it would come too late for her brother.

“Our lives are forever changed,” she said. “And you’re left with all of the what-ifs.”

Given the differences in how provinces release data, it could be months before a full understanding of overdoses during the pandemic emerges. But many parts of Canada have already marked grim milestones.

British Columbia, the epicenter of the crisis, recorded its deadliest month in May — and then surpassed it in June. Nearly four times as many people in the province have died of a suspected overdose this year as have died of the coronavirus.

Overdose deaths in the Yukon territory this year are double last year’s tally. Paramedics in the city of Saskatoon last month responded to a record weekly number of overdose calls.

Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s chief coroner, said preliminary data shows that suspected overdose deaths from March to July jumped 35 percent compared with the same period in 2019.
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Sounds pretty tough in Canada.

The complexities of legalizing illicit drugs are manifold: you'd need an access ID card in lieu of prescription, then visit your local pharmacy for the 'good' stuff, & accessories like needles & syringes. The 'good' stuff would be pharma grade & uncut with nasty things like fentanyl.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Sad. COVID also has secondary tolls that are often overlooked, such as suicide and drug overdoses.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...um=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

Canada’s other health crisis: As overdoses surge, officials call on government to decriminalize illicit drugs

TORONTO — The novel coronavirus was on the march across Canada, but it was a different public health crisis that turned Shannon Krell's world upside down.

Her brother hadn’t shown up for work, which was unusual. She called the police to have someone check on the 46-year-old, but a friend arrived first and made the sad discovery.

Ryan Krell had died of an accidental drug overdose — another life lost to a crisis that has killed more than 15,400 people in Canada since 2016. Their number has increased in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic — and perhaps, officials say, because of it.


Ryan Krell and his dog, Osito. (Family photo)
Now a growing chorus, including top public health officials, the premier of British Columbia and the nation’s police chiefs, is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to decriminalize the possession of illicit drugs for personal use.

It’s a shift Krell supports — even if it would come too late for her brother.

“Our lives are forever changed,” she said. “And you’re left with all of the what-ifs.”

Given the differences in how provinces release data, it could be months before a full understanding of overdoses during the pandemic emerges. But many parts of Canada have already marked grim milestones.

British Columbia, the epicenter of the crisis, recorded its deadliest month in May — and then surpassed it in June. Nearly four times as many people in the province have died of a suspected overdose this year as have died of the coronavirus.

Overdose deaths in the Yukon territory this year are double last year’s tally. Paramedics in the city of Saskatoon last month responded to a record weekly number of overdose calls.

Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s chief coroner, said preliminary data shows that suspected overdose deaths from March to July jumped 35 percent compared with the same period in 2019.
================================================================================
Sounds pretty tough in Canada.

The complexities of legalizing illicit drugs are manifold: you'd need an access ID card in lieu of prescription, then visit your local pharmacy for the 'good' stuff, & accessories like needles & syringes. The 'good' stuff would be pharma grade & uncut with nasty things like fentanyl.

No, pharmacies should not be supplying drugs to addicts nor paraphernalia.

Death is a likely consequence of drug addiction and this should not be the concern of the state to prevent, let alone encourage.

 

[Chomsky]

No, pharmacies should not be supplying drugs to addicts nor paraphernalia.

Death is a likely consequence of drug addiction and this should not be the concern of the state to prevent, let alone encourage.

They're already addicts. So the assistance shifts to focus on harm reduction.

 

[JacksinPA]

They're already addicts. So the assistance shifts to focus on harm reduction.

Measured doses of pure, unadulterated opioid, new needles & syringes. Sounds like a big improvement over buying unknown junk & shooting up with an unclean needle.

 

[Chomsky]

Measured doses of pure, unadulterated opioid, new needles & syringes. Sounds like a big improvement over buying unknown junk & shooting up with an unclean needle.

Exactly. And exposing oneself to others during Covid rich times, increases the hazards.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

They're already addicts. So the assistance shifts to focus on harm reduction.

Why is it the state’s obligation to reduce harmful consequences of people’s own actions?

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Measured doses of pure, unadulterated opioid, new needles & syringes. Sounds like a big improvement over buying unknown junk & shooting up with an unclean needle.

It’s not. It will simply mean no one will ever get clean. And it’s also immoral for the state to participate in someone’s suicide.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

They're already addicts. So the assistance shifts to focus on harm reduction.

Meaning you think the government should just be a heroin dealer.

It is not the business of the government to reduce the consequences of someone’s illegal and harmful actions. Who would even bother to seek treatment for addiction when there is no consequence because the government will give you free drugs at your demand?

 

[Peter]

Why is it the state’s obligation to reduce harmful consequences of people’s own actions?

We help people with self inflicted harm all the time.
We give people obesity treatment so they can get healthy and stay at work and the same with alcohol problems.
It's extremely shortsighted to not help and the people helped don't live in a vacuum and will hopefully not become criminals due to illegal drug use or otherwise become a problem for the people around them.

 

[Chomsky]

Why is it the state’s obligation to reduce harmful consequences of people’s own actions?

Whatever the people so chose? It's a health issue. Maybe we differ on that?

 

[Chomsky]

Meaning you think the government should just be a heroin dealer.

It is not the business of the government to reduce the consequences of someone’s illegal and harmful actions. Who would even bother to seek treatment for addiction when there is no consequence because the government will give you free drugs at your demand?

Before you go off like this, take a look at how harm reduction programs like Methadone Maintenance Treatment work. In addition, take a look at Portugal's success with decriminalization. There's a Wikipedia entry that's a good place to start.

Yeah, you & I definitely have differences as to whether health issues like this are something government should address. That's fair. But they way you're attacking this with broad strokes and erroneous assumptions, leads me to believe you may be unfamiliar with maintenance and harm reduction programs.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Before you go off like this, take a look at how harm reduction programs like Methadone Maintenance Treatment work. In addition, take a look at Portugal's success with decriminalization. There's a Wikipedia entry that's a good place to start.

Yeah, you & I definitely have differences as to whether health issues like this are something government should address. That's fair. But they way you're attacking this with broad strokes and erroneous assumptions, leads me to believe you may be unfamiliar with maintenance and harm reduction programs.

Methadone is not what they’re talking about.

Methadone and subloxone are part of treatment, not “harm reduction”. Harm reduction is what BC is doing with their supervised heroin site. BC has heroin deaths off of the charts. A good year for that province is 1500 plus. Before the supervised injection site and when the police actively arrested users and dealers it was 300.

Portugal never made any drugs legal. They won’t arrest people for small amounts of drugs, but they strictly enforce other drug laws and also they never had the degree of problem that North America does. It’s amazing to me that after twenty years you still are holding up portugal, a country of 5 million people as the success story where in the US and Canada we were seeing massive drops in drug use under the war on drugs and then the left began selling people on this lie that there’s no police aspect to the drug trade it’s all public health and then suddenly addiction and deaths were increasing again.

 

[Chomsky]

Firstly, let me apologize for insinuating you may not have familiarity with these programs - you obviously do.

Methadone is not what they’re talking about.

My response was to your post questioning whether 'the government should be a heroin dealer'? The current opioid substitution programs are MMT & Sub, as you've mentioned. I assumed you were arguing against expanding that to include other substances.

Methadone and subloxone are part of treatment, not “harm reduction”. Harm reduction is what BC is doing with their supervised heroin site. BC has heroin deaths off of the charts. A good year for that province is 1500 plus. Before the supervised injection site and when the police actively arrested users and dealers it was 300.

The bolded is a fine distinction. MMT & Sub are indeed parts of harm reduction programs. Just as even things like decriminalization can be argued. But if you'd like to keep them separate, I have no problem with that.

I'd need to see more than corollary data on your claim of increased deaths caused by the site you mentioned, though. I didn't see evidence of your claims in the article.

Portugal never made any drugs legal. They won’t arrest people for small amounts of drugs, but they strictly enforce other drug laws and also they never had the degree of problem that North America does. It’s amazing to me that after twenty years you still are holding up portugal, a country of 5 million people as the success story where in the US and Canada we were seeing massive drops in drug use under the war on drugs and then the left began selling people on this lie that there’s no police aspect to the drug trade it’s all public health and then suddenly addiction and deaths were increasing again.

I have no idea where you're going here. I specifically stated Portugal decriminalized, just like proposed in the OP article. Nothing more, nothing less.

And Portugal is not 5M, but 10M inhabitants. If it works for 10M, it can work for 100M, or 300M. I have no idea why you're arguing this facet of it.

Portugal has been a resounding success.

 

[Thoreau72]

No, pharmacies should not be supplying drugs to addicts nor paraphernalia.

Death is a likely consequence of drug addiction and this should not be the concern of the state to prevent, let alone encourage.

William Halstead would have disagreed with you. He experimented with drugs and eventually became a maintained user of morphine. As a maintained morphine user, he was also a brilliant surgeon and functioning member of society.

 

[Thoreau72]

William Stewart Halsted | American surgeon | Britannica

Sorry for the late link.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

William Halstead would have disagreed with you. He experimented with drugs and eventually became a maintained user of morphine. As a maintained morphine user, he was also a brilliant surgeon and functioning member of society.

I’m so thankful my hometown has just thousands of Halstads loving on the street pooping on the sidewalks.

 

[armycowboy]

No, pharmacies should not be supplying drugs to addicts nor paraphernalia.

Death is a likely consequence of drug addiction and this should not be the concern of the state to prevent, let alone encourage.

You get that decriminalization isn't the same as legalizing it, right?

 

[Waddy]

You should have the right to ruin your life; people should be free to use whatever drugs they want. They just shouldn't expect to be bailed out with other people's money.