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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy

@dsdp.ca
1.4K followers 442 following 506 posts

A group of Canadian physicians who care for people who use substances and advocate for safer, more compassionate, evidence-based healthcare policies.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
Rhea Myers @rheamyers.bsky.social · 19h
The backlash against safe supply in BC has been disgusting and it is absolutely fantastic to see this win.
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
tyson singh kelsall @tsk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
we have lost so many people while police & politicians created a spectacle, raided DULF, stopped the expansion of an alt to the toxic supply, and put its co-founders through the needless consequences of this process that took years. DULF saves lives bsky.app/profile/godf...
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
HIV Legal Network @hivlegalnetwork.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Read the statement here: www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/media-s...
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
Pivot Legal Society @pivotlegalsociety.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In a landmark ruling this morning, the BC Supreme Court agreed with the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) that parts of Canada’s drug-trafficking prohibition regime are unconstitutional. www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/2...
bccourts.ca
2026 BCSC 1855 R v Kalicum
Citation:
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
dustin @godfrey.work · 29/09/2026
"You selflessly put yourselves to the side for this cause, and that's something most people wouldn't do. For that, I applaud you. You should be proud of yourselves," she says to Kalicum and Nyx. "You put your lives on hold for many valuable years, and I can see this process has is worn you down."
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dustin @godfrey.work · 29/09/2026
she's directing parliament to address these issues, and she won't give a 12-month pause on declaring it unconstitutional — opting, instead, for six months — because we are in a public health crisis.
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
Garth Mullins @garthmullins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
CDSA 5.2 is unconstitutional
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
dustin @godfrey.work · 29/09/2026
this is a huge decision. story coming for @defactomedia.ca
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
dustin @godfrey.work · 29/09/2026
BREAKING: Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx's charges are being thrown out. she said they did a public service "at considerable personal cost."
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/09/2026
DULF decision tomorrow. No matter what, keep fighting for a better world.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 28/09/2026
www.defactomedia.ca/newsletter/h...
defactomedia.ca
How frontline workers are tackling Victoria’s overdose crisis
On the block on Overdose Awareness Day
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
Petra Schulz @msthpetra.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Confiscating drugs increases overdose risk. Confiscating syringes, needles, pipes and other harm reduction supplies increases the risk of disease. The mayor does not care. Effectiveness of this measure and stopping drug use? 0!!!
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 23/09/2026
www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/va...
ctvnews.ca
University of Victoria to offer drug testing with goal of preventing overdoses
Students at the University of Victoria will soon have access to drug checking on campus as part of a pilot project aimed at preventing overdoses.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 22/09/2026
www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/va... These are the people charged with harassing our unhoused population. Respectfully, one supposes.
ctvnews.ca
Victoria bylaw department marred by bullying, discrimination investigations
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 22/09/2026
www.timescolonist.com/local-news/u...
timescolonist.com
UVic to offer testing of unregulated drugs after student’s fatal overdose
Students will be able to have their illicit drugs checked at special pop-up booths, or via an anonymous drop box.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 18/09/2026
Next week! Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
The substance use health network is hosting a dope webinar series on hospital based ops/scs. Moderator Dr. Tommy Brothers. Drs. Jess Wilder and Ryan Herriot will be presenting on insanctuoned ops on Vancouver island. September 2. 9 am pacific.
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
RexLibris @rexlibris.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
More recently, a man here in Edmonton who had his items destroyed in one of these encampment sweeps has taken the city to court over the loss of his personal belongings saying that they prevented him from legally claiming them. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Edmonton man challenges city’s disposal of his belongings during 2024 encampment cleanup | CBC News
An Edmonton man experiencing homelessness is asking a judge to find the City of Edmonton liable for seizing and disposing of his personal belongings during an encampment cleanup two years ago.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 13/09/2026
thetyee.ca/News/2026/09...
thetyee.ca
Police Surge Makes Being Homeless in Edmonton Harder, Advocates Say | The Tyee
The city’s police chief says his strategy is pushing down crime rates, but unhoused people say they’re being harassed.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 11/09/2026
www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/use-of-...
needsmorespikes.com
VicPD and province try to stop release of police “use of force” data — Needs More Spikes
VicPD asked the government not to release data showing how its officers used force between 2022 and 2024. The government agreed, but they were overruled by the privacy commissioner. The data shows Vic...
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 11/09/2026
vicnews.com/2026/09/11/w...
vicnews.com
‘We’re not here to judge’: Doctors bring back-to-school drug checking to UVic - Victoria News
Advocates are urging UVic to expand drug-checking services following the death of Sidney McIntyre-Starko
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 11/09/2026
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Pop-up drug checking site set up at UVic, 2 years after student society called for service | CBC News
A group of health-care workers has set up a pop-up drug checking facility at the University of Victoria this week, in an effort to pressure UVic to install a permanent drug checking facility in the wa...
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 02/09/2026
cheknews.ca/family-scrut... Oh hey @jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social
cheknews.ca
Family scrutinizes Victoria bylaw's disposal of unhoused residents’ belongings
An unhoused couple says the city lacks a transparent, accessible, retrieval process for belongings seized by bylaw.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 01/09/2026
www.pentictonherald.ca/spare_news/a...
pentictonherald.ca
Province’s decision to cancel planned overdose prevention site in Vancouver’s downtown disproportionately affects First Nations: FNHA
By Nora O’Malley
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 13/08/2026
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
The symbolic power of decriminalization and recriminalization in shaping stigma toward people who use drugs in British Columbia - BMC Public Health
Background In January 2023, British Columbia (BC) implemented a three-year decriminalization pilot to reduce harms of drug criminalization and address stigma toward people who use drugs. In May 2024, ...
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 13/08/2026
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Join us for a 5 part webinar series featuring hospital-based OPS/SCS sites across Canada, highlighting different models and approaches to implementation and advocacy and discussing lessons learned.

Moderated by Tommy Brothers.

Sept. 8th - 1pm ET - St Paul’s Hospital (Vancouver)
Naomi Watt and Serena Eagland

Sept. 22nd - 12pm ET - Vancouver Island Unsanctioned Hospital OPS
Dr. Jess Wilder & Dr. Ryan Herriot

Oct. 13th - 12pm ET - Casey House (Toronto)
Christene Stevens, Jen Bordin, and Vanessa Palmer

Oct. 20th - 1pm ET - Fraser Health (BC)
Jennifer Conway-Brown and Erin Gibson

Oct. 27th - 12pm ET - Royal Alexander Hospital (Edmonton)
Dr. Karine Meador, Dr. Sheri Klassen & Dr. Kathryn Dong

Register one time and come to any / all sessions.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 13/08/2026
www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cs...
journalcswb.ca
A safer downtown for all: The inclusion of people who use drugs in community safety: This article is related directly to the Seventh International Conference on Law Enforcement & Public Health (LEP...
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
Brishti Basu @brishti.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Another day, another top notch publication shut down. It was a privilege to report on BC’s drug crisis at Filter. Thank you to Will and Kastalia for always making room for stories that matter + for treating freelancers with more respect than most. Y’all set the bar and I’m so sad to see this end.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 11/08/2026
drugdatadecoded.ca/email/9e0308...
drugdatadecoded.ca
How Health Canada buried the safe supply expert reviews amid a manufactured moral panic
After a nearly two-year access to information process, Drug Data Decoded has obtained the correspondence detailing steps taken inside Health Canada to ensure the Expert Advisory Group reports on medic...
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 31/07/2026
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... An exciting, long awaited day. Hey @bcndpcaucus.bsky.social sounds like you have to write a new law. If you would like to consult with a few GENUINE experts on substance use disorders, we know a few. Hell, if you were feeling real bold we know a few patients too.
cbc.ca
'Blanket' forced treatment of involuntary psychiatric patients unconstitutional, B.C. court rules | CBC News
Provisions in British Columbia's involuntary care regime that allow forced psychiatric treatment, regardless of a person's capacity to make health care decisions, are unconstitutional, the B.C. Suprem...
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/07/2026
The BC government's current approach does not follow the evidence. This continuing expansion of coercive confinement wastes precious health system resources and only sets us back in our fight against the worst public health emergency in our history. (8/8)
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/07/2026
The science is clear: involuntary treatment of substance use disorders does not improve outcomes, and in fact increases the risk of fatal overdose/drug poisoning event following discharge. (7/8)
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/07/2026
Given psychiatry’s dark history, you would think a lot more humility would prevail when it comes to the notion of locking people up “for their own good.” (6/8)
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/07/2026
He does not speak for the hundreds of British Columbian health care workers who provide compassionate care daily for people who use drugs. He is simply not an “expert” worthy of the outsized role he has been granted in the shaping of public policy. (5/8)
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/07/2026
Let us be clear: Dr. Vigo is not an expert in the care of people who use drugs. He is not a specialist in addiction. He is not an adolescent psychiatrist. It is not even clear that he maintains an active clinical practice. (4/8)
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/07/2026
Dr. Vigo has now crossed the line by deliberately confounding causation with correlation, a major scientific faux pas and, frankly, an embarrassing one. He is actively lying about science to support a government agenda. (3/8)
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/07/2026
Anything that is occurring across all of North America cannot be driven by local policy choices. Further, the reversal on some evidence-based harm reduction measures largely post-dates the declining trend in death. For more on this see: www.crackdownpod.com/episodes/epi... (2/8)
crackdownpod.com
Episode 57: We Ain’t Dead Yet — Crackdown Podcast
Description Garth and Sam discuss Elanore Sturko, Vaughn Palmer and Tristin Hopper’s responses to Canada’s declining overdose deaths in 2025. Was it the NDP’s abandonment of decriminalization and “...
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 29/07/2026
www.youtube.com/live/8fqSWFA... It is shocking that Dr. Daniel Vigo has begun implying that the raft of changes in government policy have anything to do with the decline in overdose deaths. They do not, as some light digging makes clear. #bcpoli #harmreduction (1/8)
youtube.com
Improving care for people with overlapping mental-health and substance-use challenges in BC
YouTube video by GovernmentofBC
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 28/07/2026
This is getting popular!!! See you soon.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 27/07/2026
thetyee.ca/News/2026/07...
thetyee.ca
DULF Founders’ Drug Law Charter Challenge Ends | The Tyee
Compassion club co-founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum will wait months to learn if they face prison.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 26/07/2026
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/c...
podcasts.apple.com
Episode 57: We Ain’t Dead Yet
Podcast Episode · Crackdown · July 22 · 48m
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 23/07/2026
Effective treatment for substance use disorders must be voluntary. "I work with clients who have been on the streets for years and when in those moments of wanting to get help, it's been difficult for them to actually have the wrap-around support that they need." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
'It's such a complex situation': Locals have their say on new Prince George involuntary care centre | CBC News
As the province prepares to open an involuntary care facility in Prince George, organizers held an open house to hear from social workers, Indigenous peoples, and people who have lived with addictions...
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 22/07/2026
As fentanyl concentration in the US unregulated drug supply falls, we see a correlated fall in deaths.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 17/07/2026
Caitlin will give a short training (+ Q&A) based on the new guide: · Your rights when speaking to police · Your rights when police request client information or belongings · Your rights when documenting police actions · Tips for creating workplace policies to reduce police entry to services
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 17/07/2026
Whether you are publicly or privately employed; rural, urban, or remote; professionally licensed or unlicensed; or working in sanctioned or unsanctioned settings, this guide offers practical tools to protect yourself and your clients against unwanted police interference.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 17/07/2026
The result? A chilling effect on clients’ access to care services – consistent with what people who use drugs have cautioned for years. In response, Pivot published Responding to Police in Health Service Settings: Know Your Rights, Protect Your Clients.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 17/07/2026
Following the BC government's termination of its decriminalization pilot in January 2026, Pivot received an increase in reports from health service providers concerning police entering their services and intimidating their clients.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 17/07/2026
Caitlin will introduce Pivot’s new resource for service providers in BC seeking to reduce police interference in healthcare settings and in the lives of their clients. SEE THE FULL GUIDE HERE: www.pivotlegal.org/a_guide_for_...
pivotlegal.org
Responding to Police in Health Service Settings: Know Your Rights, Protect Your Clients
Responding to Police in Health Service Settings: Know Your Rights, Protect Your Clients is a practical resource for health service providers in British Columbia seeking to reduce police interference i...
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 17/07/2026
We are grateful to co-host this upcoming webinar on Thursday August 13th, 2026, at 12pm PST with @hrna.bsky.social and Caitlin Shane, staff lawyer at @pivotlegalsociety.bsky.social. REGISTER HERE: tinyurl.com/3da7j4p2 #bcpoli #harmreduction
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Reposted by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
Erin Blondeau ✷ writer & researcher @erinblondeau.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
On Nov 17, North Cowichan displaced ~75 unhoused residents from Lewis Street encampments to a marsh without the promised Ramada shelter open or toilets available. NEW substack collab by me & @pearlysalts.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/jessicap...
open.substack.com
Swept off Lewis Street and Into North Cowichan’s Wetlands
A street sweep on November 17 during a disease outbreak forced unhoused residents into Cowichan’s wetlands. 80 overdoses followed in the next 24 hours.
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Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 15/07/2026
"A regulated alternative to the toxic drug supply. Accessible, low-barrier supervised consumption services that respond to people’s needs. Timely, evidence-based, and culturally safe treatment for anyone who seeks it. Safe, affordable, and accessible housing." bcgreens.ca/lower-death-...
bcgreens.ca
BC Greens: Lower death toll should not reduce government action on toxic drug crisis
VICTORIA, B.C. – The BC Green Caucus has issued a statement following the recent BC Coroner’s report on deaths due to overdose: “It’s been over ten years since the toxic drug […]
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