NDP candidate Jason Davis chats about his passion for creating effective, affordable housing options and his dedication to saving lives through maintaining, not cutting, harm reduction options across the province. Davis also spoke of NDP plans to help combat food insecurity that would encourage using locally harvested produce and options to help make food costs more affordable
The first episode features a conversation with Ashley Fox, the Liberal Party candidate for Perth-Wellington. In this conversation, we discuss why a focus on health care is essential for the overall well-being of the province, transportation in rural communities, how the decline in the relation with the United States will affect Canadians at all levels of government, municipal, provincial and federal, how hard reduction should be approached in Ontario and the importance of not only listening to but hearing and acting on concerns raised by students, parents, and educators in the education system.
Mish Waraksa, a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner with over four years of experience working in safer opioid supply programs in Toronto, discussed how contaminants in the illicit opioid supply chain complicate the job of healthcare workers and the life-threatening side effects that come with Benzodiazepines and other impurities getting mixed into the street supply.
Katie Langille is a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner in the SOS Program at the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre. SOS is a Safer Opioid Supply program established in 2020. Clients receive prescriptions for pharmaceutical opioids to decrease their reliance on the toxic, unpredictable street supply.
This podcast features a discussion about the push to provide more effective harm reduction services, education, outreach and advocacy to enhance and save the lives of people most at risk from the toxic drug crisis in the Atlantic provinces of Canada.
One thing I have learned as Conservative politicians ignorant of the facts surrounding harm reduction scare up fear of drug users, overdose prevention sites, safer supply and people who need compassion and mental health support; some people want to learn more about what harm reduction means and how it can help their loved ones before they become another overdose statistic.
On this episode, Ruth Fox, Regional Director for Moms Stop the Harm, spoke to me about her experience losing her son, Trevor, who died from accidental drug poisoning in his home.
Trevor was 25 years old and had a full and promising life ahead of him in his community. He was a valued employee in a career he enjoyed and was adored by a supportive family and numerous friends.
Ruth became aware of Moms Stop the Harm shortly after Trevor’s death and has found the community of understanding, compassion and support the organization offers invaluable. Through the work the group does, she learned more about the harms caused by Canada’s failed drug policies and the way people who use drugs are treated.
This episode features a conversation with Jillian Clair about the movement to legalize magic mushrooms and her research into the benefits of Psilocybin, that ingredient some mushrooms have which adds that psychedelic touch to them that many of us have grown to love. The mood-stabilizing gift from nature that governments want to deny access to.
This episode spotlights harm reduction services provided by Positive Living Niagara. Talia Storm, Director of StreetWorks Services, discusses supervised consumption, safer supply and other services that have saved lives during the toxic drug crisis. As Storm says, the staff at StreetWorks are just the passengers, and the individuals accessing the services are driving the car because harm reduction is an aspect of the treatment continuum that aims to empower and respect a person’s right to self-determination.
There were 36,442 apparent opioid toxicity deaths in Canada between January 2016 and December 2022.
A total of 7,328 apparent opioid toxicity deaths occurred in 2022. This is an average of 20 deaths per day. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the average number of deaths per day was 10. The average number of deaths per day peaked at 22 in 2021. However, based on current national data, analyses show no significant decrease in trend, and rates remain high.
On episode 14, Garth Mullins, host of the award-winning Crackdown podcast, drew on his experience as a drug user and activist to discuss harm reduction and the overdose crisis, the challenge of distributing a safe unadulterated drug supply, defunding the police, the positives and negatives of British Columbia’s decriminalization pilot, starting a grassroots drug user activist group, and his new band Low Dead Space.
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