Ottawa, ON | April 29, 2024 – On the eve of the tenth anniversary of her son Danny’s death from unregulated drugs, Petra Schulz, co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH), will testify before the federal Standing Committee on Health (HESA) today on the “Opioid Epidemic and Toxic Drug Crisis.”  Since MSTH’s founding in 2016, drug toxicity deaths have skyrocketed and show no signs of abating. In a tragic reflection of the human toll of the crisis, MSTH has grown to almost 4,000 members in that time, emerging as a national leader advocating for evidence-based drug policy intervention. Danny Sc ..read more

Victoria, B.C. | April 26, 2024 — The Harm Reduction Nurses Association is profoundly frustrated and disappointed to hear the British Columbia provincial government’s announcement that they have sought permission from the Federal government to recriminalize all people who are at risk of dying from the unregulated drug crisis who lack access to housing or 24/7 safer use spaces in their communities. “The B.C. government’s actions today will put people who use drugs and people who rely on public space at further risk of harm and death,” says Corey Ranger of the Harm Reduction Nurses Association ..read more

Job Title: Communications Director, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition Reporting To: Executive Director  Application Deadline: May 5, 2024, 11:59PM Pacific   Desired Start Date: Late June, 2024  Location: This position is open to applications from across Canada, and CDPC staff work largely remotely. CDPC offices are located on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) territory at Simon Fraser University’s Harbour Centre campus in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. This position requires that the successful candidate be loca ..read more

Ontario, Canada | March 18, 2024  Two weeks have passed since 51 groups from across Ontario sent an open letter calling on the provincial government to immediately fund and support supervised consumption sites. But despite the coalition’s request for an emergency meeting by March 13, Minister of Health Sylvia Jones and Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo have not responded. The groups are speaking out to secure emergency funding and prevent impending closures of sites in Sudbury and Timmins. More than 500 people have died from drug poisoning in Ontario ..read more

Police communications about drug seizures vary widely in their accuracy. These statements rarely share specific evidence or data sources and sometimes contain errors or overstatements, as in the recent case in Belleville, Ontario and emerging information on Prince George. Police announcing large seizures of prescribed alternatives to the unregulated drug supply as Prince George RCMP did this month may drive fear and influence policy, even if based primarily on assumption. Without forensic testing, police may base their conclusions on visual assessments of shape, size, colour and packaging. Man ..read more

Ontario, Canada | March 5, 2024 — Fifty-one community groups from across Ontario are calling on the provincial government to immediately fund and support supervised consumption services amidst the worsening toxic drug crisis. In an open letter released this morning, the coalition called for eight urgent actions, including direct emergency funding, with a deadline of March 29. Citing recent and imminent closures of sites in Windsor, Sudbury, and Timmins, the group demanded swift intervention to prevent further deaths.  In Ontario, seven to 10 people are killed every day by t ..read more

March 4 2024  The Honourable Sylvia Jones  Ministry of Health  sylvia.jones@ontario.ca | sylvia.jones@pc.ola.org  777 Bay Street, 5th Floor  Toronto, ON M7A 2J3  The Honourable Michael Tibollo  Ministry of Health  michael.tibollo@ontario.ca | michael.tibollo@pc.ola.org  7 Queen’s Park Crescent  Toronto, ON M7A 1Y7  Dear Minister Jones and Associate Minister Tibollo,    RE: Supervised Consumption Services site closures due to lack of funding from Ministry of Health  We write to you with grave concern regarding the Ontario gov ..read more

February 08, 2024: Belleville, Ontario is back in the news with another spike in overdoses. In November 2023, Belleville experienced a similar spike. At that time, Belleville police stated the spike was likely due to “opioids laced with GHB”. We were skeptical of this claim, but needed to wait for any lab-based analysis of the drugs involved. The results came back in January and we developed the following statement.  View this document on Scribd Download The post Examining the Facts: Belleville, Ontario police claim, and media reporting of, “opioids contaminated with GHB ..read more

A misinformation campaign around public use legislation distracts from real solutions  January 31, 2024 | One year ago today, British Columbia decriminalized personal possession of small amounts of some drugs in limited locations in a three-year pilot project. Since then, an organized political campaign has spent time and money to cloud public perception and discredit evidence-based efforts. Let’s cut through the rhetoric and talk about what is and isn’t working with decriminalization, and what a better way forward ..read more

British Columbia, Canada | January 31, 2024   Frustrated by insufficient responses to escalating toxic drug deaths, today a coalition of civil society organizations and people who use drugs unveiled a comprehensive policy platform aimed at ending the unregulated drug crisis and fostering healthy communities.  Released on the one-year anniversary of the launch of British Columbia’s decriminalization pilot, To End a Crisis: Vision for BC Drug Policy outlines a roadmap for transforming the province’s drug policies.  It has been nearly eight years since the province first ..read more