Joe Amero brings depth of lived experience to harm reduction in Toronto shelter system

This is the final feature in a three-part series diving into aspects of the opioid pandemic, the overdose crisis, whatever you wish to call it. It is a public health crisis which became exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Canada’s Public Health database, there was a 95 percent increase in apparent opioid toxicity deaths from April 2020 to March 2021, with a total of 7,224 deaths, compared to 3,711 deaths from April 2019 to March 2020. Since then, deaths have remained high.

These statistics were published in March 2022 and only went as far as September 2021, but by that point, 5,368 apparent opioid toxicity deaths had occurred. This is approximately 20 deaths per day. For a similar timeframe in the years before the pandemic, there were between 7 in 2016 and 12 in 2018 deaths per day.

Drug User Liberation Front saves lives by distributing clean meth, cocaine and heroin

This is the first feature in a three-part series diving into aspects of the opioid pandemic, the overdose crisis, whatever you wish to call it. It is a public health crisis which became exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Canada’s Public Health database, there was a 95 percent increase in apparent opioid toxicity deaths from April 2020 to March 2021,  with a total of 7,224 deaths, compared to 3,711 deaths from April 2019 to March 2020. Since then, deaths have remained high.

These statistics were published in March 2022 and only went as far as September 2021, but by that point, 5,368 apparent opioid toxicity deaths had occurred. This is approximately 20 deaths per day. For a similar timeframe in the years before the pandemic, there were between 7 in 2016 and 12 in 2018 deaths per day.

If my talent can help you, don’t let your stories fade away

I ended up walking away from my job on Valentine’s Day. How romantic was that? In the days before my resignation, it was announced that I would be receiving more awards for my writing. It was just a matter of waiting until April 29th to find out if I would get first, second or third place awards. Well, today was that day, and the Ontario Community Newspaper Association announced that Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum-roll, please?

Feline Friends Network continues mission to humanely reduce cat homelessness

Since Feline Friends Network was founded in 2006 to reduce the problems of cat overpopulation and homelessness humanely, it has helped at least 3,352 cats get spayed and neutered.

“That’s the reason Feline Friends started,” said Sharon Morrice, president of Feline Friends Network. “It was started by someone volunteering at the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter at the time. She could see there was a big, big problem with cats – more cats coming in than dogs, so she thought, why aren’t we working on the root cause of this and that is that cats multiply at such a high rate.”

Multicultural Association kicks off fundraising for Ukrainian refugees at Revival House

The Multicultural Association of Perth Huron (MAPH) has kicked off their fundraising efforts to support Ukrainian refugees who will soon be arriving in Perth and Huron Counties with a dinner at Revival House in Stratford on March 10.

The war in Ukraine touched the event as the main speaker had to cancel because her mother, a Ukrainian nurse, was injured in a Russian attack on a Ukrainian hospital.