‘The last thing I would have expected’

Hardy and Amelia Leighton’s deaths served as a wake-up call that fentanyl was threatening even recreational drug users, but the truth is more complicated, reports Andrea Woo

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/north-van-couple-lost-tofentanyl/article32933591/

Pot laced with fentanyl? Premier's warning causes concern, confusion

A comment made by the B.C. premier to Ottawa journalists about pot laced with the deadly drug fentanyl has prompted concern and confusion at home.

The premier visited the capital this week to ask for federal funding to help combat B.C.'s growing fentanyl crisis.

The most recent data issued by the province suggested that illicit drug overdoses have continued to climb on Canada's West Coast, with 622 fatal incidents reported so far in 2016. There were 397 deaths in the same period last year.

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/pot-laced-with-fentanyl-premier-s-warning-causes-concern-confusion-1.3167855

A 25-year-old recovered addict told her sad story here on Thursday to federal cabinet ministers who are forging a national strategy against Canada’s overdose crisis.

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-federal-ministers-meet-in-ottawa-on-fentanyl-overdose-crisis

B.C. declares public health emergency after fentanyl overdoses kill 200 people in three months

An alarming number of drug overdose deaths in recent months has prompted B.C.’s chief health officer to declare a public health emergency.

The declaration, typically reserved for a contagious disease outbreak, is the first in Canada, where a rash of fentanyl overdoses has claimed hundreds of lives.
Provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall on Thursday cited more than 200 overdose deaths in B.C. during the first three months of 2016, a pace that would lead to 800 deaths this year if it continued.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/b-c-declares-public-health-emergency-after-fentanyl-overdoses-kill-200-people-in-three-months

Why Liberals Love the Disease Theory of Addiction, by a Liberal Who Hates It

The disease model is convenient to liberals because it spares them having to say negative things about poor communities. But this conception of addiction harms the very people we wish to help.
Because they can’t draw unfavorable inferences about life in poor ghettos or poor rural communities (to which they have little exposure), liberals are drawn to the belief that drugs cause addiction.

I couldn’t disagree more. But as a card-carrying liberal myself, I’ll swallow my bile and try to understand.

http://www.substance.com/why-liberals-love-the-disease-theory-of-addiction-by-a-liberal-who-hates-it/12116/