@smalltownmissy
Abolitionist Feminist. Community legal clinic social worker. Co-founder, TweakEasyCBG. Mom. Nurturing spaces, systems and relationships rooted in deep care and mutual aid. Fighting criminalization of drug use, poverty, homelessness, neurodivergence.
I co-facilitated a training program for un- & under-housed people on OW to find meaningful employment in social service. It was defunded this year. Homeless people — whom Ford calls "lazy" — have been deprived of opportunity so that Ford can enrich insiders. www.thestar.com/politics/pro...
I connected with @drdagly.bsky.social and he allowed me to share his story as a physician working the front lines with patients and families of overdose victims as a blog post for @momsstoptheharm.bsky.social
www.momsstoptheharm.com/blog/2024/11...
And of course this all happens coincidentally right at budget season for the police service and on the same day the province declares it wants return of mandatory minimums, three-strikes rule and harsher bail restrictions.
@equalityalec.bsky.social You’ve seen this playbook over and over again, no?
And yet over 48 hours later, we’ve heard nothing from our Health Unit, neither of the local Drug Strategy tables, the hospital, police or media - all of whom we’ve flagged the issues with this allegation.
What must we do next to make sure this doesn’t just fade away?
Maybe Cobourg police and Northumberland Hills Hospital don’t realize just how significant this event is in the context of the public health emergency known as the overdose crisis. Surely they want to share and get more info out to the public as quickly as they announced the alleged poisoning.
What were the symptoms, method of contact, and subsequent treatment? This should be known so that this incident can be studied as the scientifically significant event that it is. Yet there remains radio silence. Just more parroting of police messaging.
Local harm reduction folx + PWUD are not just concerned - we’re outraged that this narrative is going unchecked.
It’s incumbent on the local Health Unit to take an active role in investigating this alleged risk to public health, and on our hospital and police to publicly release information.
The police release is what’s actually dangerous here. It perpetuates vilification and criminalization of PWUD. It also puts increases risk for PWUD by creating a chilling effect on the wider community re: folks' willingness to help someone who appears to be experiencing OD or drug poisoning.
If true, this is a remarkable occurrence—possibly the 1st documented case of a 1st responder being poisoned from incidental exposure.
And yet, peer-reviewed research + toxicology reports are very clear that the idea someone can be harmed by incidental/2nd-hand exposure to fentanyl is a myth.
Local media again published the chief’s remarks pretty much verbatim and without any additional follow up or questions asked.
I contacted those reporters and told them that more in-depth follow up coverage of this incident is critical.
Let’s talk about why!
Monday morning the Cobourg police chief doubled down on the claim of officer overdosed by incidental/second-hand fentanyl exposure, reminding the community how dangerous it is out there for officers and vowing to ensure anyone possessing drugs will feel the full extent of the law.
On Sunday night, Cobourg Police Service was very quick to put out a release announcing that while arresting a community member an officer overdosed from contact with fentanyl. Our few local media immediately published this nearly verbatim - they didn’t name the accused, thankfully, unlike police.
📌
A graphic with large text stating “15,602 British Columbians have died from accidental drug poisoning since April 2016” Below the text reads “every overdose death is a policy failure” There is a map of British Columbia overlayed in the background.
This is day 3,148 of B.C.’s declared public health emergency.
That’s 104 months and 4 weeks. Nearly 9 years now.
At least 15,602 people have died from the toxic unregulated supply in that time.
At least 6 more will die today.
The carnage has become the norm. We must find our outrage.
#bcpoli
Correction
Crime reporting be like
I’m saving this so I can come back and listen with intention. Thank you for this offering. 📌
We need to be very clear about this.
The drug overdose death crisis is not happening DESPITE drug prohibition.
The drug overdose death crisis is happening BECAUSE OF drug prohibition.
The war on drugs is the problem.
Ending prohibition is the only solution.
Sign the Statement of Support of Hospital Overdose Prevention Sites:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Photo of the covers of the following books: HOW WE GET FREE, Hope in the Dark, FREEDOM IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE, PALESTINE in a World on fire, Let This Radicalize You, Socialism…Seriously, The Black Antifascist Tradition, Elite Capture, Class Struggle Unionism, and Unbuild Walls.
The big Haymarket all-bangers free ebook stock-up is on until tomorrow:
www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/517-te...
I recall another big bust a few yrs ago. On the 300 block, all debts called. Nobody was fronted. Dopesickness rippled out. Down got more contaminated, more lethal. Dealers fought over who'd fill the gap. Bullets flew. But drugs were still available without pause.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
I do think many Americans misunderstand what democratic (small ‘d’) backsliding looks like. We tend to imagine the midnight knock at the door, etc. - and that’s one version. But in reality, even in some fairly heavy-handed places, it’s surprisingly easy for people to acquiesce.
@heartforward.bsky.social Has this been a deterrent in Edmonton or something that’s been raised at all? Or do you find most are okay with location in hospital because priority is having the trees up and in view?
Hospital or the community mental health office where our RAAM clinic and regional addiction services org are based are two alternatives that came to mind. One reservation is the complicated relationship a lot of PWUD have with our hospital… and geographically it’s far away from most of the community
What about a memorial tree would make folks feel unwelcome and I represented? If anyone has any thoughts please share - I’m genuinely at a loss. This is actually just part of the Council’s scorn for PWUD, harm reduction and anyone connected to either in any way. And it’s disgusting.
“To ensure inclusivity and to honor the diversity of our community, the Town of Cobourg's policies do not permit installation of memorial displays in shared municipal spaces. These guidelines are in place to help all members of our community feel welcomed and represented in these shared areas.”
The past 2 years, inside town hall, Healing Hearts Northumberland has put up a beautiful memorial tree for loved ones lost to toxic drugs. Grieving families find comfort in seeing their people remembered and honoured this way during the holidays. Today the Town of Cobourg denied the request for 2024
Did you know the 1981 Canada Post worker strike is why access to longer parental leave became standard across Canada?
definingmomentscanada.ca/all-for-9/hi...
"The [Addictions] ministry didn't really have any policy-making power or budget," Mullins said. "It was to put up a nice face, sort of like a paid mourner at a graveside or a sin-eater. You know, something so the voters would think things were happening." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
The Thing Is BY ELLEN BASS to love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it and everything you’ve held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands, your throat filled with the silt of it. When grief sits with you, its tropical heat thickening the air, heavy as water more fit for gills than lungs; when grief weights you down like your own flesh only more of it, an obesity of grief, you think, How can a body withstand this? Then you hold life like a face between your palms, a plain face, no charming smile, no violet eyes, and you say, yes, I will take you I will love you, again.
Because maybe you need this poem as much as I do.