Liam Michaud
@liammichaud.bsky.social
researcher on drug policy & law | phd candidate in socio-legal studies | former community harm reduction worker | Tkaronto, Treaty 13
Pinned
Liam Michaud
@liammichaud.bsky.social
· Nov 16
He was acquitted of homicide in a Toronto fentanyl overdose. Should he have been tried at all?
“Sometimes tragedies should just stay tragedies,” criminal defence lawyer Nabeel Sheiban said. “We don’t always need a villain.”
www.thestar.com
Ontario has seen a rapid expansion of homicide charges brought against people who have shared, sold, scored, or provided drugs that are alleged to have caused an accidental overdose. all the evidence shows these prosecutions target the people they claim to protect
www.thestar.com/news/gta/he-...
www.thestar.com/news/gta/he-...
Congrats to everyone who worked to make this victory possible! Overdoses should never be opportunities for arrests and expanded repression.
BREAKING WIN for PWUD: Supreme Court of Canada rules against the Saskatchewan government and police attempt to claw back the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act in R v Wilson. Pivot argued, and the court agreed, the law protects against simple possession convictions, charges, AND arrests at ODs.
decisions.scc-csc.ca
October 24, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Congrats to everyone who worked to make this victory possible! Overdoses should never be opportunities for arrests and expanded repression.
Reposted by Liam Michaud
"The goal, DULF maintained, was to save lives."
Drug User Liberation Front "produced a peer-reviewed study that showed after about one year none of its compassion club members had died."
"Their trial is scheduled for the next two weeks."
#BritishColumbia #Canada #Policing #Drugs
Drug User Liberation Front "produced a peer-reviewed study that showed after about one year none of its compassion club members had died."
"Their trial is scheduled for the next two weeks."
#BritishColumbia #Canada #Policing #Drugs
Safe Drugs on Trial: DULF’s Trafficking Case Begins
The founders are charged with trafficking. Their lawyers argue they had a legal exemption from drug laws.
thetyee.ca
October 13, 2025 at 5:01 PM
"The goal, DULF maintained, was to save lives."
Drug User Liberation Front "produced a peer-reviewed study that showed after about one year none of its compassion club members had died."
"Their trial is scheduled for the next two weeks."
#BritishColumbia #Canada #Policing #Drugs
Drug User Liberation Front "produced a peer-reviewed study that showed after about one year none of its compassion club members had died."
"Their trial is scheduled for the next two weeks."
#BritishColumbia #Canada #Policing #Drugs
Reposted by Liam Michaud
So, the takeaway is that habitual offender laws did not emerge from the tough on crime era in the late 1900s, but instead from the eugenics movement in the early 1900s. The Howard Law Journal published my research on this last month.
May 7, 2025 at 1:00 AM
So, the takeaway is that habitual offender laws did not emerge from the tough on crime era in the late 1900s, but instead from the eugenics movement in the early 1900s. The Howard Law Journal published my research on this last month.
Reposted by Liam Michaud
VPD has zero credibility in reporting violent crime statistics. By selective & sensational use of stats, they helped their friends get elected to city council. Now Task Force Barrage is out of gas & VPD wants more money. dailyhive.com/vancouver/va...
City claims Vancouver has hit a 23-year low in violent crime | News
The City of Vancouver and Mayor Ken Sim are celebrating a reported 23-year low in violent crime, dating back to 2022, when records began.
dailyhive.com
September 9, 2025 at 12:41 AM
VPD has zero credibility in reporting violent crime statistics. By selective & sensational use of stats, they helped their friends get elected to city council. Now Task Force Barrage is out of gas & VPD wants more money. dailyhive.com/vancouver/va...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
A new research paper shows that an inability to access health and social services, as well non-fatal overdose, was a positively tied to street sweeps.
Read the report : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Read the report : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
A new research paper shows that an inability to access health and social services, as well non-fatal overdose, was a positively tied to street sweeps.
Read the report : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Read the report : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
The last time the Liberals proposed bail reform their justice minister admitted they had no evidence to back it. Curious what's changed. - www.reuters.com/world/americ...
September 5, 2025 at 6:41 PM
The last time the Liberals proposed bail reform their justice minister admitted they had no evidence to back it. Curious what's changed. - www.reuters.com/world/americ...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
@avierkant.bsky.social and I also did an amazing symposium on Marta Russell with @kmtani.bsky.social for @lpeblog.bsky.social in 2022, featuring contributions from @nhold.bsky.social, Ruth Colker, Jules, @deanspade.bsky.social & Liat Ben-Moshe
Capitalism & Disability: A Symposium on the Work of Marta Russell
The modern disability rights movement has been primarily oriented around seeking labor inclusion through the expansion of civil rights statutes. Despite this, few disability theorists have approached…
lpeproject.org
August 1, 2025 at 11:02 PM
@avierkant.bsky.social and I also did an amazing symposium on Marta Russell with @kmtani.bsky.social for @lpeblog.bsky.social in 2022, featuring contributions from @nhold.bsky.social, Ruth Colker, Jules, @deanspade.bsky.social & Liat Ben-Moshe
Reposted by Liam Michaud
two scandals here: VPD fuelled panic over stranger attacks even as they fell dramatically in 2022, and then refused to release records about them for 14 months, which is against the law
‘Fear and anxiety’: What our police FOI requests uncovered about Vancouver’s stranger assaults scare
‘Fear and anxiety’: What our police FOI requests uncovered about Vancouver’s stranger assaults scare
Internal emails obtained through Freedom of Information requests shed light on the Vancouver Police Department's media strategy related to stranger assaults ahead of the city's 2022 election.
bit.ly
August 21, 2025 at 2:47 AM
two scandals here: VPD fuelled panic over stranger attacks even as they fell dramatically in 2022, and then refused to release records about them for 14 months, which is against the law
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Ontario misled the public on crime data to justify closing supervised consumption sites. Evidence shows these services save lives & improve community safety. #HarmReduction tinyurl.com/ybuhw3hf
August 20, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Ontario misled the public on crime data to justify closing supervised consumption sites. Evidence shows these services save lives & improve community safety. #HarmReduction tinyurl.com/ybuhw3hf
Reposted by Liam Michaud
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is a top Canadian think tank—here’s how it got involved in opposing trans rights.
This Canadian think tank is claiming ‘victory’ over anti-trans legislation | Xtra Magazine
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute routinely publishes material targeting trans rights
xtramagazine.com
August 13, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is a top Canadian think tank—here’s how it got involved in opposing trans rights.
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Alberta will "award $180 million for the construction of 'Compassionate Intervention Centres.'"
"The drug jails will each detain up to 150 people [..] under Alberta's new forced abstinence legislation, which eliminates the right to due process."
#Alberta #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Incarceration
"The drug jails will each detain up to 150 people [..] under Alberta's new forced abstinence legislation, which eliminates the right to due process."
#Alberta #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Incarceration
Alberta government reveals drug jail locations in procurement document
The Alberta government has issued a request for interested parties to participate in the procurement process for two forced abstinence detention facilities, to be located in northwest Calgary and…
drugdatadecoded.ca
August 8, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Alberta will "award $180 million for the construction of 'Compassionate Intervention Centres.'"
"The drug jails will each detain up to 150 people [..] under Alberta's new forced abstinence legislation, which eliminates the right to due process."
#Alberta #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Incarceration
"The drug jails will each detain up to 150 people [..] under Alberta's new forced abstinence legislation, which eliminates the right to due process."
#Alberta #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Incarceration
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Exclusive: Alberta Recovery Model
A private company with its hands in most stages of Alberta's abstinence-oriented drug strategy has evaded public scrutiny.
Here, I show how its 'recovery coaches' are becoming mandatory to access publicly funded recovery centres.
drugdatadecoded.ca/substance-us...
A private company with its hands in most stages of Alberta's abstinence-oriented drug strategy has evaded public scrutiny.
Here, I show how its 'recovery coaches' are becoming mandatory to access publicly funded recovery centres.
drugdatadecoded.ca/substance-us...
Alberta recovery programs require private 'coaches,' emails show
As one recovery centre admits that recovery coaches supplied by Bowline Health are now mandatory to access its residential services, it is unclear if the Province will mandate its coaches across the r...
drugdatadecoded.ca
July 22, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Exclusive: Alberta Recovery Model
A private company with its hands in most stages of Alberta's abstinence-oriented drug strategy has evaded public scrutiny.
Here, I show how its 'recovery coaches' are becoming mandatory to access publicly funded recovery centres.
drugdatadecoded.ca/substance-us...
A private company with its hands in most stages of Alberta's abstinence-oriented drug strategy has evaded public scrutiny.
Here, I show how its 'recovery coaches' are becoming mandatory to access publicly funded recovery centres.
drugdatadecoded.ca/substance-us...
canada’s prison needle exchange program is a helpful case study in how crucial reforms can be undermined through bad implementation, punitive barriers, conditioning entitlement, or policy sabotage. it provides helpful lessons for other areas of drug policy & law reform-open access in Health&Justice
Securitizing carceral health: a realist review of Canada’s prison needle exchange program - Health & Justice
Background In 2018, in response to a lawsuit and years of civil society advocacy for prison-based syringe distribution due to elevated rates of injection drug use, HIV, and hepatitis C virus among inc...
healthandjusticejournal.biomedcentral.com
July 19, 2025 at 4:06 PM
canada’s prison needle exchange program is a helpful case study in how crucial reforms can be undermined through bad implementation, punitive barriers, conditioning entitlement, or policy sabotage. it provides helpful lessons for other areas of drug policy & law reform-open access in Health&Justice
Reposted by Liam Michaud
"Members of the research team heard about frequent unannounced police visits to local [Ontario] harm reduction programs."
"[P]olice would enter the premises, search clients' belongings, interrogate staff, and at times arrest service users."
#Ontario #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Policing
"[P]olice would enter the premises, search clients' belongings, interrogate staff, and at times arrest service users."
#Ontario #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Policing
Police in Ontario Increasingly Obstruct Harm Reduction Service Delivery
filtermag.org
July 17, 2025 at 8:26 PM
"Members of the research team heard about frequent unannounced police visits to local [Ontario] harm reduction programs."
"[P]olice would enter the premises, search clients' belongings, interrogate staff, and at times arrest service users."
#Ontario #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Policing
"[P]olice would enter the premises, search clients' belongings, interrogate staff, and at times arrest service users."
#Ontario #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Policing
Police interference w/ harm reduction services is a growing crisis. Surveilling services, arresting clients & other abuses cause service avoidance, violate peoples right to healthcare & highlights urgent need for binding non-interference policies. @filtermag.bsky.social @hivlegalnetwork.bsky.social
Police in Ontario Increasingly Obstruct Harm Reduction Service Delivery
Police surveillance and interference block life-saving care as the province becomes more hostile to harm reduction, our study shows.
filtermag.org
July 17, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Police interference w/ harm reduction services is a growing crisis. Surveilling services, arresting clients & other abuses cause service avoidance, violate peoples right to healthcare & highlights urgent need for binding non-interference policies. @filtermag.bsky.social @hivlegalnetwork.bsky.social
Reposted by Liam Michaud
As public officials post about Juneteenth...
Remember that @baltimorebeat.bsky.social published articles just this week detailing how the War on Drugs almost exclusively impacts Black residents, and how the BPD just killed a beloved arabber.
baltimorebeat.com/in-baltimore...
Remember that @baltimorebeat.bsky.social published articles just this week detailing how the War on Drugs almost exclusively impacts Black residents, and how the BPD just killed a beloved arabber.
baltimorebeat.com/in-baltimore...
In Baltimore's drug war, 'public safety' comes before public health. Nearly everyone impacted is Black
At first glance, it may seem that the War on Drugs has all but disappeared in Baltimore. The decades-long campaign decimated Black neighborhoods and fueled mass incarceration in the city under the gui...
baltimorebeat.com
June 19, 2025 at 2:29 PM
As public officials post about Juneteenth...
Remember that @baltimorebeat.bsky.social published articles just this week detailing how the War on Drugs almost exclusively impacts Black residents, and how the BPD just killed a beloved arabber.
baltimorebeat.com/in-baltimore...
Remember that @baltimorebeat.bsky.social published articles just this week detailing how the War on Drugs almost exclusively impacts Black residents, and how the BPD just killed a beloved arabber.
baltimorebeat.com/in-baltimore...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
per usual—as the political class creates spectacle from the toxic drug crisis, @crackdownpod.bsky.social shows us the intimate realities. important new episode: www.crackdownpod.com/episodes/epi...
ft. @momsstoptheharm.bsky.social @4bharmredux.bsky.social
ft. @momsstoptheharm.bsky.social @4bharmredux.bsky.social
Episode 54: Get Sober or Get Dead — Crackdown Podcast
Alberta is the involuntary treatment capital of Canada. Since 2006, the province has encouraged parents to waive their children's rights and force them into detox as part of the Protection of Children...
www.crackdownpod.com
June 5, 2025 at 4:20 PM
per usual—as the political class creates spectacle from the toxic drug crisis, @crackdownpod.bsky.social shows us the intimate realities. important new episode: www.crackdownpod.com/episodes/epi...
ft. @momsstoptheharm.bsky.social @4bharmredux.bsky.social
ft. @momsstoptheharm.bsky.social @4bharmredux.bsky.social
Reposted by Liam Michaud
BREAKING: Canada exported $18.9 million of military goods to Israel in 2024, despite the Liberal government's "pause" on new export permits. international.gc.ca/transparency...
Annual Report on Strategic Goods and Technologies Pursuant to Section 27 of the Export and Import Permits Act - 2024
international.gc.ca
June 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM
BREAKING: Canada exported $18.9 million of military goods to Israel in 2024, despite the Liberal government's "pause" on new export permits. international.gc.ca/transparency...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Canada’s sovereignty is facing an existential threat over disproven allegations that illicit fentanyl, originating from Canada, is significantly contributing the American drug poisoning emergency.
This Bill is a dangerous and unfounded admission of guilt
🧵
#cdnpoli
www.canada.ca/en/public-sa...
This Bill is a dangerous and unfounded admission of guilt
🧵
#cdnpoli
www.canada.ca/en/public-sa...
Government of Canada strengthens border security - Canada.ca
A strong Canada means strong borders. Today, the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety introduced the Bill, the Strong Borders Act to strengthen our laws and keep Canadians safe.
www.canada.ca
June 3, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Canada’s sovereignty is facing an existential threat over disproven allegations that illicit fentanyl, originating from Canada, is significantly contributing the American drug poisoning emergency.
This Bill is a dangerous and unfounded admission of guilt
🧵
#cdnpoli
www.canada.ca/en/public-sa...
This Bill is a dangerous and unfounded admission of guilt
🧵
#cdnpoli
www.canada.ca/en/public-sa...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
This is bad: the Ford government's Bill 25 gives the Minister of Children, Community & Social Services new powers to issue directives to ministry-funded entities.
Bill 25 can be used to force government ideology into community services under threat of defunding. www.ola.org/en/legislati...
Bill 25 can be used to force government ideology into community services under threat of defunding. www.ola.org/en/legislati...
Emergency Management Modernization Act, 2025
Bill 25 from Parliament 44 Session 1 of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: Emergency Management Modernization Act, 2025.
www.ola.org
May 26, 2025 at 7:29 PM
This is bad: the Ford government's Bill 25 gives the Minister of Children, Community & Social Services new powers to issue directives to ministry-funded entities.
Bill 25 can be used to force government ideology into community services under threat of defunding. www.ola.org/en/legislati...
Bill 25 can be used to force government ideology into community services under threat of defunding. www.ola.org/en/legislati...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Compassionate approaches quickly shifted to more punishment in Oregon, as treatment funds were used to fund the wages of more prosecutors and acquiring police gadgets and vehicles.
There's limited funding for treatment and harm reduction, but for police..!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
There's limited funding for treatment and harm reduction, but for police..!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Revealed: Oregon spent funds meant for addiction services on prosecutors and police gadgets
As the state abandons decriminalization, treatment grants are going to sheriffs and district attorneys: ‘that might be two or three case managers’
www.theguardian.com
May 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Compassionate approaches quickly shifted to more punishment in Oregon, as treatment funds were used to fund the wages of more prosecutors and acquiring police gadgets and vehicles.
There's limited funding for treatment and harm reduction, but for police..!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
There's limited funding for treatment and harm reduction, but for police..!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
I missed this: BC is holding involuntarily hospitalized people - by definition among the most vulnerable - in solitary confinenent. This runs counter to Mandela Rules and, going by prior court rulings, Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. www.mapleridgenews.com/home2/bcs-fi...
B.C.'s first involuntary care beds for incarcerated men open in Surrey
Ten beds are only for men being held in the custody at the Surrey pretrial centre
www.mapleridgenews.com
May 17, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I missed this: BC is holding involuntarily hospitalized people - by definition among the most vulnerable - in solitary confinenent. This runs counter to Mandela Rules and, going by prior court rulings, Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. www.mapleridgenews.com/home2/bcs-fi...
Reposted by Liam Michaud
🙏🏾
TL;DR: Montana is the first state to close the law enforcement data broker loophole, requiring police to obtain a warrant for sensitive location data instead of buying it. This significant step protects citizens' Fourth Amendment rights and may inspire similar national actions.
Montana Becomes First State to Close the Law Enforcement Data Broker Loophole
Montana has done something that many states and the United States Congress have debated but failed to do: it has just enacted the first attempt to close the dreaded, invasive, unconstitutional, but easily fixed “data broker loophole.” This is a very good step in the right direction because right...
www.eff.org
May 15, 2025 at 1:01 AM
🙏🏾