A GREAT, CLEAR AND TRUTHFUL EXPLANATION OF ADDICTIONS IN A FEW MINUTES

Watch here.

REHAB FACILITIES NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER By: Chuck Doucette and David Berner Opinion in the Winnipeg Free Press June 15, 2016

RCMP at the Behavioral Health Foundation in late May.

Thanks to Jessica Hadley, President of the Child & Youth Care Workers’ Association of Manitoba for her excellent, timely and well-balanced commentary (Fear, frustration the norm for youth-care workers, June 7).

Ms. Hadley was writing about the May 29 attack on two workers — including a Red River College student finishing her practicum — committed by two teenage residents at the Behavioural Health Foundation’s facility in Selkirk.

The workers were viciously assaulted with a baseball bat and billiard balls and suffered serious injuries — the student is now blind in one eye — and trauma. The purpose of this obscenity, it’s believed, was to steal a truck and go party.

Over the years, BHF staff have been threatened and assaulted and there have been attempts to burn down the facility.Residents assault each other in every way imaginable and, in some cases, quite unimaginable ways.

But this is the most extreme and dreadful incident in BHF’s 45 years operating in Manitoba.

The male youth facility — which had been scheduled to close for good on June 25 — typically housed between 10 and 14 high-risk youths. Staff were scheduled at a ratio of one to four youths, except on overnight shifts, which met the licensing and accreditation standards. Many group homes have staff with considerably less.

The residents are volatile youths who come from families torn apart by generations of violence, drug and alcohol abuse, criminality and scant regard for what most people would consider basic human values.

For reasons unclear to anyone at this point, there has been a steadily increasing unwillingness to continue funding and sending at-risk youths to this wonderful program. In 2014, the BHF in Selkirk was told it was going to be shut down because of funding. In fact, the only reason why the facility remained open was so that the Red River College student could get the practicum hours needed in order to obtain her diploma.

To be clear, this kind of violent behaviour is rarely seen in a large group setting, normally the situation at this facility, where they would be surrounded by a peer group of 10 or12 others and a full complement of staff. Because of funding cuts, these two very wound-up boys and their dark histories of violence, addictions and social instabilities were only residents left.

What was BHF supposed to do, throw them out on the street? This is the work BHF has done so well for so many years with singular dedication and knowledge.

And BHF is not alone. Courageous programs across the country dare to bring youths such as this pair into their facilities and dare to embrace them and lead them into a new way of looking at the world. Acceptance, camaraderie and new concepts are thrown at these kids. "Do unto others" or "R-E-S-P-E-C-T." or "Be the Best You!" Young people who have little or no experience with being loved, or even vaguely liked, will present walls and barricades. They are suspicious of good vibes or "square" values. Their lives have been lived in chaos and it is chaos to which they naturally drift. Now they’re being asked to live with peace, reasonableness, kindness and caring for other people. Really?

One of the oldest and best youth programs in the country introduced in a rural setting in British Columbia a few years ago. Ribbons were cut, photos were taken, the funding established and then the local health authorities and the provincial government of the day did everything in their power to stymie the work.

Let’s say a 17-year-old girl says one morning, "Dad, I want to get clean." What’s the window of opportunity? About five seconds.

Reason says that father and daughter get in the car and head for the facility. But health authorities decided that the person in crisis has to be interviewed — several times — in Vancouver before she could even be considered for admission to the rural program. As if these bureaucrats have the faintest notion of how to work with kids in that situation.

This recent event at BHF is awful. But understand that those working on the front lines with volatile people begin with a foundation of trust, love and camaraderie tempered by some serious street smarts.
Today, Behavioural Health Foundation’s main facility in St. Norbert houses some 100 men, women and children, runs school programs, a daycare and myriad other activities, including sophisticated and accredited therapy and counseling.

It has been doing this successfully for more than four decades.

As conscious and conscientious citizens, we need not look far to realize we need BHF now more than ever.

Let us recognize the tragedy for what it is and not make the mistake of throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Chuck Doucette is the president and David Berner is the executive director of Drug Prevention Network Canada.

METHADONE is a con job - an unholy alliance between addicts and doctors. For the addicts, it means no need to change; for the doctors it mean serious change in the bank account.

How to cure 42,000 addicts quickly

By Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, Special to Postmedia Network

First posted: Saturday, June 04, 2016 08:00 AM EDT 

 

How could this medical and social disaster ever be allowed to happen? If authorities had told me that Ontario, just one Canadian province, was treating 400 addicts in methadone clinics, I’d believe them. But, the actual number is 42,000. But how many of these addicts need methadone? And what is the solution for this madness?

Dr. Theodore Dalrymple is not an arm-chair commentator on addiction. Rather, he’s an internationally renowned expert, a British psychiatrist, and prison doctor who has treated thousands of addicts over years.

In his book, Romancing Opiates, he writes that heroin is not as highly addictive as claimed, and withdrawal not as difficult as treating an alcoholic. He claims, “It’s a myth that treating the heroin addiction 'cold turkey' causes withdrawal symptoms that are virtually unbearable.”

He adds that, after witnessing withdrawal symptoms in thousands of patients, “they are hardly worse than the flu. Moreover, the sudden withdrawal of heroin is not dangerous.”

To prove his point Dalrymple reports that researchers examined the records of thousands of addicts between 1875 and 1968 who had been taken off heroin. They did not find a single death from withdrawal symptoms.

Dalrymple makes another poignant observation. He has observed addicts laughing and having a great time in his waiting room. But once inside his consulting office they acted as if they’re “in extremis.” And when he points out this abrupt change in health, they have admitted they were “blagging.”

He cites another experiment that shows how addiction is largely a myth. Morphine addicts, who believed they were being given morphine, but had only received water, reported their withdrawal symptoms had disappeared!

Dalrymple claims that the use of methadone has had a low success rate. The result is that addicts end up being treated indefinitely with medication at great cost to society. And he says doctors have a long history of treating trivial conditions dangerously with drugs such as methadone.

This prison expert says there is nothing an addict likes more than to continue his personal way of life and place the weight of responsibility for his situation somewhere other than on his own decisions.
So Dalrymple contends that a useless medical bureaucracy has been established to deal with addicts. After all, why would doctors and staff want this merry-go-round to end when it’s become financially lucrative? In effect, he says, doctors and administrators need the addicts more than the addicts need them!

I couldn’t agree more that North America has followed an asinine approach to heroin addiction that’s causing major public health problems for this country. Years ago, I interviewed Singapore authorities about how they had attacked the illegal use of drugs.

They accused North Americans of being “irresponsibly permissive.” This message was dispensed on my flight even before landing. A handout card to passengers read, “Death to drug dealers.”

Singapore authorities told me that the illegal use of heroin had been rampart in the country, and destroying young lives. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew decided to stop this trend. He realized you should never show your teeth unless you’re prepared to bite.

Criminals quickly got his message when drug dealers were hanged.

I recently read that Alberta has a rat patrol and has been rat-free for 65 years. The Albertan policy is to take no prisoners. What a shame North America doesn’t use the same approach for humans. I’m referring to human rats that pedal illegal drugs which trigger health problems, misery and crime at a huge cost to society.

Congratulations to Dr. Dalrymple his research. So I believe he would agree that the majority of addicts would be quickly cured by sending them to northern Canada to chop wood. They would be happy to return south without the methadone. As Aristotle remarked two thousand years ago, “punishment is a form of medicine.”

I’m sure this column will be criticized by do-gooders that it’s a mortal sin to to deny methadone to addicts. But I believe health care dollars could be better utilized.

JUST ANOTHER OF THOSE LITTLE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES FROM HARM SEDUCTION. HO HUM...

Brian Hutchinson: Finding used drug needles in public spaces has become the new normal for Vancouver

Dirty needles found near children's playground in Vancouver's West End

VANCOUVER — You have found a used needle, in one of the last places you ever expected — or wanted — to see one. On the playground. Inside the schoolyard. On the beach. Now what?

Shiloh Sukkau was shocked at first. Then resigned. Now she’s upset. Same with Joel Reid and Jessica Leung, and now they’re speaking out.

Three people, unknown to each other, living and working in different parts of the city. Finding dirty needles in public places. Kids’ spaces.

In this permissive city, where open drug use is sadly common, people have finally reached a boiling point. They’re fed up with finding dangerous materials left behind by intravenous drug users, whose numbers in Vancouver exceed 12,000, according to local health authorities.

Dirty needles, called “sharps,” along with cooking gear, water ampoules and rubber ties are the most common detritus.

The problem isn’t confined to Vancouver’s drug-infested Downtown Eastside. Used needles with trace amounts of heroin, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, prescription opioids and blood are turning up across the city.

On one Vancouver street corner, residents were recently confronted with discarded sharps and, on a wall next to them, the image of a happy face, drawn in blood.

Here’s the brutal irony, an unintended consequence. Millions of needles are handed out in Vancouver every year, more than in any other Canadian city. Free needle exchanges funded by taxpayers and private donors are considered an effective form of harm reduction; clean, disposable “rigs” can help prevent the spread of such diseases as HIV and hepatitis.

Most of the used needles from exchange programs are collected and disposed of properly. But every year, more than 100,000 needles are carelessly discarded outside, creating hazards for the rest of us. Last year, the number of needles recovered outside was a staggering 250,732, according to Vancouver Coastal Health.

Shiloh Sukkau is a young mother with an eight-year-old child attending school in Vancouver’s West End, adjacent to the downtown core. On Saturday, she found a used needle lying in a children’s garden that she and other parents built in a city park. Her daughter’s school, Lord Roberts Annex, takes up about one-quarter of the same block.

Sukkau had previously found needles left in and around the schoolyard. On each occasion she called a local social-service agency, the Portland Hotel Society (PHS), for help.

The PHS has a needle exchange and recovery program and will send someone to collect used rigs from city parks and other places. The City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Park Board and other agencies also offer needle-recovery programs and daily “sweeps.”  Clearly, though, these efforts aren’t enough.

It’s really upsetting, especially because I’ve been trying to encourage … children to use the (garden) space

For Sukkau, finding a needle in the school’s outdoor garden plot was a tipping point. “It’s really upsetting, especially because I’ve been trying to encourage other parents, teachers and children to
use the (garden) space,” she says. “Now I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
The morning after her discovery, Sukkau’s partner found eight more needles in the same garden, which children had recently planted with vegetables.

Enough, they said. Sukkau went public this week, contacting media and local politicians, asking why residents are forced to deal themselves with Vancouver’s drug-use problem. With few exceptions, no one in a position of authority or elected office got back to her.

Joel Reid teaches music at a Montessori school not far from Vancouver’s False Creek. He often takes his young students to a nearby park but first, he has to inspect the place for needles.

“It’s become a hot spot,” Reid says.

He has also encountered people shooting up outside his school; in those cases, he asks the drug users to move on. “They are very compliant, most of them,” says Reid.

Fortunately, he’s not aware of any needle-related injuries sustained by students. “The kids are pretty aware. I’ll show them a needle if I find one, and warn them not to touch one if they find one themselves.”
Jessica Leung and her family moved to an Eastside neighbourhood last year. She finds discarded needles as many as four times a week. “Places that families frequent are being overrun with sharps,” she says.

The greater, underlying problem, she feels, is “prolific drug use.”

Like Sukkau and Reid, she’s found such agencies as the PHS helpful at collecting sharps. But the situation persists, and, she says, it’s getting worse.

Some have suggested installing plastic needle disposal boxes on street corners, in parks and inside public washrooms. Leung and the others aren’t convinced they would solve anything.
Would drug users who currently drop their needles on the ground suddenly change their behaviour and put their needles safely inside a box? Would a homeowner want a needle box placed outside their house? Fat chance of that.

There is no simple solution. In Vancouver, scattered, dirty needles are approaching “normal” status, sad facts of city life. It seems we’re stuck with that.

bhutchinson@nationalpost.com

JUST DO IT

A survey about Recovery is being conducted on behalf of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) and the National Recovery Advisory Committee (NRAC.)

Please read the short preamble and do the survey to the degree you feel comfortable. Every little bit helps.

LET'S GO TO SCHOOL, BOYS & GIRLS

PREVENT. DON'T PROMOTE.

As we approach the big smoke-in at Sunset Beach in Vancouver with tens of thousands, it might be instructive and mildly helpful to look at another viewpoint...if that's allowed.

www.preventdontpromote.org Scientists Across the Globe Call for Greater Awareness of the Harms of Cannabis Use April 16, 2016 Contact: Jeff Zinsmeister Phone +1-415-680-3993 jeff@learnaboutsam.org A new call to action has been released from scientists around the world, reflecting "a growing consensus among experts that frequent cannabis use can increase the risk of psychosis in vulnerable people and lead to a range of other medical and social problems," according to the The Guardian. Researchers now believe the evidence for harm is strong enough to issue clear warnings, said the article.  For example, Sir Robin Murray, professor of psychiatric research at King's College London, stated: "It's not sensible to wait for absolute proof that cannabis is a component cause of psychosis. There's already ample evidence to warrant public education around the risks of heavy use of cannabis, particularly the high-potency varieties. For many reasons, we should have public warnings." Estimates suggest that deterring heavy use of cannabis could prevent 8 to 24% of psychosis cases handled by treatment centers, depending on the area. In London alone, where the most common form of cannabis is high-potency marijuana (or "skunk" as it is sometimes called in the United Kingdom), avoiding heavy use could avert many hundreds of cases of psychosis every year. "It is important to educate the public about this now," said Nora Volkow, director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). "Kids who start using drugs in their teen years may never know their full potential. This is also true in relation to the risk for psychosis. The risk is significantly higher for people who begin using marijuana during adolescence. And unfortunately at this point, most people don't know their genetic risk for psychosis or addiction." Ian Hamilton, a mental health lecturer at the University of York, said more detailed monitoring of cannabis use is crucial to ensure that information given out is credible and useful. Most research on cannabis, particularly the major studies that have informed policy, is based on older low-potency cannabis resin, he points out. "In effect, we have a mass population experiment going on where people are exposed to higher potency forms of cannabis, but we don't fully understand what the short- or long-term risks are," he said. Prof Wayne Hall, director of the Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research at the University of Queensland, said that while most people can use cannabis without putting themselves at risk of psychosis, there is still a need for public education: "We want public health messages because, for those who develop the illness, it can be devastating. It can transform people's lives for the worse. People are not going to develop psychosis from having a couple of joints at a party. It's getting involved in daily use that seems to be the riskiest pattern of behavior: we're talking about people who smoke every day and throughout the day." "When you're faced with a situation where you cannot determine causality, my personal opinion is why not take the safer route rather than the riskier one, and then figure out ways to minimize harm?" said Amir Englund, a cannabis researcher at King's College London. A UK government spokesperson also said its position on cannabis was clear.  "We must prevent drug use in our communities and help people who are dependent to recover, while ensuring our drugs laws are enforced. There is clear scientific and medical evidence that cannabis is a harmful drug which can damage people's mental and physical health, and harms communities." These comments underline the need for a global drug policy that prevents drug use, instead of promoting it. Global drug policy should continue to evolve to match the new scientific evidence available, and that includes taking into account the heavy price that increases in drug use entail, particularly in less-developed countries. ### Prevent. Don't Promote. (http://preventdontpromote.org/) is a global campaign that more than 300 organizations across the world are launching at UNGASS 2016 to support the  UN drug conventions.  This consortium of organizations advocates fora global drug policy based on public health and safety through the prevention of drug use and drug problems. Aligned with the principles of Drug Policy Futures, we believe that drug policies should: Prevent initiation of drug use. Respect human rights (for users and non-users alike) as well as the principle of proportionality. Strike a balance of efforts to reduce the use of drugs and the supply of drugs. Protect children from drug use. Ensure access to medical help, treatment and recovery services. Provide access to controlled drugs for legitimate scientific and medical purposes. Ensure that medical and judicial responses are coordinated with the goal of reducing drug use

DOTORS PUSHING DEADLY DOPE - STUDY

 And then read Robert Whitaker's landmark powerful book, "Anatomy of an Epidemic."

 

Doctors’ reckless prescribing of fentanyl largely to blame for deadly overdoses: expert

Sharon Kirkey  04.06.2016

Canada’s doctors have been “mind-boggingly cavalier” in prescribing fentanyl — the most potent narcotic painkiller used outside operating rooms — and much of the responsibility for the country’s
opioid overdose crisis lies with the medical profession, a leading drug safety researcher is charging.
Dr. David Juurlink says a new study showing half of all prescriptions for fentanyl patches are unsafe reflects dangerous prescribing habits and a serious lack of appreciation for the drug’s toxicity.
Fentanyl has a strength 100 times that of morphine. Guidelines say no one should be put on the drug without doctors first trying a less-potent opioid.

But a study published this week of all patients in Manitoba prescribed fentanyl patches over 12 years found while prescribing has improved, half of new prescriptions are still being written for first-time users with no exposure to opioids.

“It’s very difficult for even a seasoned pain physician to justify the de novo initiation of fentanyl,” said Juurlink, head of clinical pharmacology and toxicology at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

“The idea that we’re just starting people on fentanyl is mind-boggling.”

He and others say the study is the latest evidence of a public health catastrophe the profession, and the public, still hasn’t fully grasped.

More people are dying from opioid overdoses than from car accidents. The medical profession has to take some ownership of this menace.

“This is a massive social problem and it is heartbreaking to me the extent of the lack of awareness … that is at least in part a function of some willful blindness,” said Dr. Gus Grant, president of the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada.

He said regulators are seeing loose prescribing, as well as a few malignant doctors “who have somehow fallen into the sway of the criminal element.”

One Nova Scotia doctor is alleged to have prescribed more than 50,000 oxycodone pills to a patient who never received them. On Wednesday, a Toronto family doctor was arrested in a fentanyl trafficking ring.

Grant stressed such doctors are outliers. But he also said opioid prescribing isn’t following the guidelines and, as a result, “we see the ills associated with these drugs.”

Few people should ever be escalated to taking fentanyl, he maintains, “because by the time they get to that stage, it’s more likely than not that they have declared themselves unresponsive to opioids.”
“It’s time to confront the reality of pain management in 2016,” he said. “Opioids don’t work well for a great many patients.”

According to the federal government’s own projections, Canadian sales of opioids could exceed $600 million a  year by 2019, up from $484 million a decade ago.

Fentanyl is making up a growing share of that market, as provinces tighten access to oxycodone — originally known as OxyContin and one of the most abused drugs in history. OxyContin was replaced in 2012 with a “tamper-resistant” version that becomes a gummy gel when turned into liquid, making it harder to inject.

However, generic versions of the original formulation have entered the market. This week, Ottawa announced the government won’t force the generics to make their versions of oxy harder to snort or inject, prompting criticism Canada’s drug-abuse “carnage” will only worsen.

But while the tamper-resistant formulations are an modest improvement over the older drug, most abuse happens through the ingestion of intact pills, Juurlink said.

With fentanyl, it’s through patches — they come in doses of 25 to 100 micrograms.

The most common form provides three-day continuous drug delivery and has become a “popular choice” for chronic pain, researchers report this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
It is also the most potent opioid prescribed outside hospital. According to Juurlink, people not only die from exposure to excess levels of fentanyl, but the combination with many other drugs that are routinely prescribed can increase its level to lethal ranges.

In 2009-14, there were at least 655 deaths in Canada involving fentanyl, and more than 1,000 lethal drug poisonings where post-mortem drug testing detected the presence of fentanyl, says the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

In Alberta alone, more than 270 people died from fentanyl overdoses last year, double the 2014 toll.
People are dying not just from illicit street drugs and lethal bootleg fentanyl from China and other underground markets, but also from legitimate prescriptions.

Juurlink has treated patients who arrive in hospital with multiple fentanyl patches, adding up to 400 micrograms or more. “And it’s almost always the case that they are being made worse rather than better by the drug,” he said.

Calgary emergency physician and toxicologist Scott Lucyk frequently sees unintentional overdoses
from fentanyl.

“It’s one of the big players right now,” he said. “They come in with respiratory depression — they’re not breathing as well. They have drowsiness and altered level of consciousness.”

“We have physicians who are prescribing these drugs who are not totally familiar with the delivery system,” he said, “and so the chance for patients coming with opioid toxicity, or potentially dying, is definitely there.”

Grant said opioids are important for pain and that doctors need to know how to use them judiciously.
“I do believe physicians are becoming more rigorous in their prescribing and I do see that there is an enhanced social awareness of it,” he said.

“But we’re nowhere near where we need to be.”

• Email: skirkey@postmedia.com

Legalization no longer the issue

Michael McCarthy is a freelance writer, contributing this excellent op-ed in today's Vancouver Sun.

Stoner mentality: The problem with marijuana is users don’t recognize it as an addiction

Once upon a time, long ago and far away, there was a hippie philosopher guru named Baba Ram Dass. He was formerly known as Richard Alpert, and taught at Harvard University. And then he discovered LSD.
One doctor specializing in addictions says the most dangerous drug on the street today is marijuana. With legalization closer than ever, the bigger threat from marijuana is treating addicts whose brain has told them being stoned is a healthy and normal state of mind.

  Ram Dass became famous for his bestselling book Be Here Now. It was a very simple title for a very simple concept: Wherever you are, be there. Don’t walk in front of buses, for instance. If you are crossing the street, pay attention. (Then came cellphones.)

What has all this to do with Mary Jane, you wonder? Pay attention. Marijuana is in the news every day now. Not only is the federal government going to legalize possession of it, there are now campaigns by “activists” to spread the use of it. No matter the same government is threatening to arrest people for smoking cigarettes; legalization is no longer the issue. There is a bigger threat.

Full disclosure: When I was young, I smoked dope. Everyone did. Not marijuana though. I lived in Montreal, where hashish was king, and Royal Nepalese Temple Hash gives you one heck of a buzz. When I moved to Vancouver, the hippies were smoking homegrown weed, “love grass” as go the lyrics to Steppenwolf’s song The Pusher. As an athlete, I gave up weed and switched to hockey and mountain bikes, where the endorphins produce a better high and the addictions are healthier.

Today’s weed is not grown in the shed next to where you keep your old Herman’s Hermits records. The THC in the new hydroponic strains are apparently 30 times stronger than love grass, and would wound a rhinoceros if rhinos were stupid enough to smoke. I say “apparently” because I am not going to do any tests to compare. The smell alone of modern skunkweed is enough to curl your socks, if you are unlucky enough to be in the vicinity when somebody lights up a doobie. But that’s not the issue.

Recently, I attended a conference about addiction. The doctor leading the conference, a psychiatrist with a specialty in addictions listed off all the new designer drugs, some so powerful they can kill you just by looking at them. A new opioid named W-18 evidently is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, which is so powerful it has killed thousands of Canadians. But neither drug is the most addictive.

What is the most dangerous drug on the street today? The doctor replied the answer is easy: marijuana. He treats more patients for Mary Jane than all other drugs combined. Love grass? That’s impossible! You can never overdose on weed, although you may get lung cancer if you smoke enough of it.

The problem is that weed is the only dangerous drug that doesn’t come with its own built-in consequences. Unlike alcohol, heroin, crack and all the other popular drugs, marijuana is fairly benign, physically. No overdoses, no hangovers, no immediate negative consequences. Eventually you have to stop using other substances or they will stop you. Not marijuana.

Aside from a dozy state of post bliss euphoria known as “being wasted,” the worst effects of smoking dope are sleepiness and hunger that leads straight to the brownies. Gaining weight is the biggest hassle. But wait. There’s more, of course.

Given that you can smoke dope every day without any lasting consequences, many people do just that. Aside from the fact that they are stoned (which is not the best state of mind to be in when driving, working, looking after kids or many other activities), the addiction leads to changes in the brain and personality. You become a “stoner.” You think that people who aren’t stoned are the ones who have a problem.

This line of thinking, such as it is, does have consequences. Suppose, said the doctor, that your wife wants you to stop being stoned. Suppose your employer is not happy to find your brain is often parked in Never Never Land. Often this leads to divorce, unemployment, or other unhappy consequences.

Cigarette smokers will tell you that nicotine is the most addictive drug and hardest to quit. I never smoked cigarettes, so I can’t say, but I understand that you can make a conscious decision to stop when you realize it’s hurting you, see your doctor, put patches on your arm, and go for long walks and things like that. It’s somewhat harder to reconfigure a brain that has told itself that being stoned is a healthy and normal state of mind. You can’t break an addiction if you don’t recognize it as an addiction.

Be here now? Never mind all the stoners wandering around Lalaland in a daze wondering what day of the week it is. What about all these whackos with cellphones stuck in their ears walking in front of buses? Where is Ram Dass when you really need him?

AND THE BEAT GOES ON...

The following was sent to us by a friend who is a doctor. I have removed the name and  contact information of the sender.

This is being posted so that you can see that all good people involved in the pot business will be well rewarded. Even if they call themselves doctors.

Hi,

I want to make you aware of Cannibinoid Medical Centre, referral ONLY clinic at Spring Garden Rd Professional Bldg. I thought this may be of interest. There is no Family practice component, patients are assess for their suitability or not for the use of cannabis to treat their medical issue whether it would be pain management or chronic disease management, etc.

We are seeking physicians to do at least 1 shift per week. If you have interest in learning more please advise and I send you further details outline the training modules.

Once you are established in the clinic here is the earning potential;

For an 8 hr day seeing only 25 patients.

10 new patients X $80.70 = $807.00
15 recheck X $31.46 = $471.9
25 urine x $19 = $475
Total = $1753.90 x .7 = $1,227.73 physician take hm

I look forward to your response.
Thanks
Regards;

*************************************************************************************************************************

CANADA'S MAD DECLARATION TO THE UN

The future is here and it is scary.

Read the whole piece and then consider the one healthy and knowledgeable comment, which came from Conservative critic, Rob Nicholson, who said, "There's nothing safe about taking heroin."

THE SILVER BULLET PEOPLE NEVER QUIT, DO THEY?

This sad, mistaken piece of propaganda was written by a sad, mistaken ideologue who hasn't got the first clue on the subject for which he shows such passion and ignorance - always a dangerous combo.

Gerry Verrier, who is in Senior Management at Manitoba's premier Therapeutic Community, the Behavioural Health Foundation, and is on our DPNC board, sent it along.

THREE SMALL SAFE INJECTION FACILITIES PROPOSED FOR TORONTO

Walter Cavalieri

Director, Canadian Harm Reduction Network

14 March 2016

NOTE: A shorter version of this article appeared in NOW magazine, on 17 March

.

In the mid 1980s, I had the opportunity to accompany a street outreach worker in Calgary, handing out condoms to women working in the sex trades.  We struck up a conversation with a middle-aged man, a local minister known to my host, who was doing the same thing.  Alas, my inner wise-ass kid asserted itself, and I decided to challenge him - just a bit - about how he, a man of the cloth, could openly condone a sinful activity when his role should be saving these women's souls.  He told me it was more important to him to keep these women alive now, so that later he could save their souls.  Humbled and enlightened, I backed off.  He had given me my first real lesson in harm reduction, one which has guided me ever since.  Harm reduction is not just about the "now" but about the future.

This, to me, is an excellent reason for setting up three small Safe Injection Sites (SIFs) in Toronto.  With SIFs, we can save lives now, and worry about "rehabilitation" - whatever that may mean - down the road.  Working to help the living is full of possibilities, but it is impossible to help those who are dead.

Overdose deaths - at levels in Toronto which surpass even motor vehicle deaths - are an epidemic, and we are responsible for this.  All of us.  Counterproductive laws, inaccurate information, misguided leadership, institutional stigmatisation, fear ... they all play roles in keeping drug overdose deaths high in all populations - not just in "disposable" street persons.

SIFs are one important program for addressing this.  They are not a new idea.  In the mid 1990s, the Goethe Institut brought a large delegation of people from Frankfurt to share with Toronto, its sister city, Frankfurt's success in addressing its open drug scene, one of the most deadly in all Europe.  One tactic they employed was to set up sites where people could inject their drugs in a clean, well-lighted place, with sterile equipment and a knowledgeable staff to help out in emergencies.  Alas, Toronto wasn't "ready" to do anything different about its drug problems, and we have seen the results of this year in, year out.  A missed opportunity.

We cannot miss the opportunity now.  There is too much need and too much evidence that SIFs are successful.

Getting to know what actually goes on at a SIF, and why they work as well as they do, will help you appreciate the need for SIFs, and their wisdom.

Short of visiting Insite, Canada's only public SIF, or talking with Insite's staff or people who use it, take a look at any of the many videos available on the Internet, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlLnhes5nqs.

Insite is a large, free-standing SIF.  Toronto's safe-use sites will resemble the SIF at the Dr. Peter Centre in Vancouver (please see photo), and will be embedded in local needle exchange programs.  Each will have only three places where people can inject.

 

As an ethnographer, I had the opportunity to observe about 30 people in Toronto injecting crack cocaine.  Remaining the "objective" observer was impossible, and I struggled to keep tears and anger at bay.  Using drugs desperately, covertly and under duress is a matter of course for people without homes or safe places to use, and shooting up in laneways, abandoned building, parks, garages, janitors' cupboards, washrooms, etc., sometimes with minimal light, does not provide safety.  No wonder there are so many illness and deaths.  That said, the people I observed wanted to be safe, and they did their best to do so and to protect the safety of their partners and friends. 

Not everyone who uses drugs is addicted, but many feel they cannot live without drugs. They use them for a variety of reasons, most quite valid. However, as long as the drugs they use have unpredictable levels of strength and purity, overdoses and damage to health are inevitable, and we - all of us - who support the so-called War on Drugs - share in the responsibility for the drug-related deaths and damage.  For 100 plus years this War has failed.  It has, in fact, made things worse for everyone.  It's time for another approach, and SIFs in Toronto offer us that opportunity.

Will SIFs increase drug use, crime, illness?  NO.  They have not done this anywhere.

What SIFs offer is a way to bring back into society people who have been pushed to the edges of it and a place where they can connect with good and dedicated healthcare workers and get a lifesaving service without judgment and stigma. 

Johan Hari, author and journalist, says that the opposite of addiction is connection.  Safe Injection Facilities prove this.

Safe injection Facilities will be discussed and voted on in the Toronto City Council this summer. If you are a Toronto resident, please contact your City Councillor to inform her or him of your support.  If you live in other parts of Canada, please urge your city officials to address the growing tragedy of accidental drug overdose deaths.  Most of these deaths are preventable.

FROM HEALTH MINISTER TO POT SALES

This is a story that is difficult to read and to publish.

The reason is that it shows how deep a rabbit hole we are are scurrying down at top speed.

The key element in the tale is that the Chair of the board of one of these hugely funded new medpot companies is the former Ontario Minister of Health, one George Smitherman.

Apparently what you learn as the Health Minister of a large Canadian province is how to market marijuana and make scads of money.

He is, of course, hardly alone.

We can boast in this outpost a former mayor/Premier and a former Police Chief and Attorney General who are now drinking the same Kool-Aid.

Kelowna firm gets license from federal government to produce medical pot products

THC BioMed Intl Ltd. is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSNX: THC)

By Dan Fumano, The ProvinceFebruary 22, 2016

THC BioMed will begin research this week, CEO and president John Miller said Sunday, and plans to start growing as soon as they can import seeds from The Netherlands. After they start producing, they will need to obtain a licence to sell from Health Canada.

Photograph by: THCbiomed.com, Internet photo

A B.C. firm aiming to specialize in cannabis edibles, oils and patches is one of two medical-marijuana producers newly licensed by the federal government.

THC BioMed Ltd. in Kelowna and Green Relief Inc. of Flamborough, Ont., both received their licences to cultivate pot on Feb. 18, Health Canada’s website shows.

They’re the first two new producers to be licensed since Justin Trudeau’s government took power after last October’s election, bringing the total to 29 licensed producers across Canada, including 16 in Ontario and seven in B.C.

THC BioMed will begin research this week, CEO and president John Miller said Sunday, and plans to start growing as soon as they can import seeds from The Netherlands. After they start producing, they will need to obtain a licence to sell from Health Canada.

THC is still waiting on the result of an application for a licence to produce cannabis oils, Miller said, and the company plans to specialize in “derivatives.”

A recent news release from the firm gives examples of derivatives such as edibles, anti-inflammatorytopical agents, patches, pills and encapsulated oils. “We believe the market is going to go more toward derivatives,” Miller said.

THC BioMed chairman Jason Walsh said as soon as the company’s name was added to the Health Canada website, “the phones went nuts” with calls from “tons of investors.”

THC BioMed Intl Ltd. is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSNX: THC). Trading was temporarily halted last week pending a formal announcement, expected Monday, about the licensing, said George Smitherman, the former Ontario politician and director of THC BioMed’s board.
Smitherman, who’s also involved with two other medical-marijuana firms in Ontario, said he was first exposed to the sector during his tenure as Ontario’s minister of health, adding it’s an “exciting” time in the growth industry.

The other new licence issued last week went to Green Relief Inc., an “aquaponic” grow operation, combining aquaculture and hydroponics. The facility, outside Hamilton, Ont., includes a recirculating water system and 8,000 tilapia fish whose waste will fertilize the plants.

“It’s the most sustainable form of agriculture known to mankind today,” Warren Bravo said, adding his operation will grow faster than other methods and require less water. “It’s the coolest thing ever.”
Green Relief, a private firm, will start growing next week in their 30,000-square-foot facility, with “aggressive expansion plans” for an additional 200,000 sq. ft., Bravo said, adding: “We want to be a dominant force in the industry, and advance the science of not only cannabis, but sustainable agriculture as well.”

dfumano@theprovince.com
twitter.com/fumano

© Copyright (c) The Province

VIRTUAL SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES & FRIENDS OF ADDICTS

Our colleague, Candace Plattor, works specifically with friends and families of addicts. She has now added to her array of services a Virtual Support Group.

 It's a 12-week virtual support group for the loved ones of addicts with 90-minute calls taking place every other week; participants can join via phone (local numbers provided) or their computers.


In her own words...


For more than 25 years, I’ve been helping loved ones get off the roller-coaster chaos of addiction and live their best lives. 

Hi, I’m Candace Plattor, a therapist in private practice, specializing in addictive behaviours such as alcohol and drug abuse. I know what works when it comes to helping you feel relief from the inevitable turmoil caused by an addicted loved one in your life. I created this support group as a way to guide anyone who otherwise has nowhere else to turn.

Have a look and register here.http://candaceplattor.com/loving-an-addict-loving-yourself-support-group/