Euan Thomson
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drugdatadecoded.ca
Euan Thomson
@drugdatadecoded.ca
5.5K followers 1.9K following 2.9K posts
Award-winning investigations on the Alberta Recovery Model: www.drugdatadecoded.ca

✍️ APTN, Alberta Views, The Breach, The Tyee

PhD Microbiology

Banner: Access to information in Alberta
Icon: Headshot of me in blue t-shirt
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drugdatadecoded.ca
This is a cop, trained in ‘investigation’ ⬇️ More excellent coverage of the DULF trial by @michellegamage.bsky.social
He also said he researched DULF online but never saw DULF’s website, which also laid out exactly what DULF was doing. “Really, your Google search never turned up DULF.ca?” asked Dickson. Cheah said the VPD hadn’t paid much attention to DULF until the Economist published a feature about DULF on Sept. 8, 2023, which said DULF was operating out of a storefront in Vancouver.
November 8, 2025 at 12:02 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
At some point, when all this is settled, I would like the BC public to hold this person to account for her disinformation and the community harm it has wreaked.

Well done @brishti.bsky.social getting more for the public record.
When asked by PressProgress for comment about Murray’s allusion to “backbench politicians” and conclusion that public money was not used to buy drugs, contrary to what she has claimed in the past, Sturko stood her ground. “All I heard was a judgment that I think raises questions about funding that was provided by the government,” she said. “It’s disappointing that if the government was going to give money, that they weren’t more clear with these two individuals exactly what was exempt in their activity and what was not.”
November 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Here’s how 31 Halifax police occupied a frequently used path recently, forcing pedestrians to walk by seven fascists demanding mass deportations.

Cops attempted multiple escalations and arrested one of the antifascists.

Cops are publicly funded fascist sympathizers.
Lineup of cops with bikes wearing helmets and armour lined up a hill on a walking path to protect seven people gathered by a bench. They appear to have signs on the ground.
November 6, 2025 at 12:37 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
would’ve been kinda greedy to stack so many good things together
Creepily carved radishes, turnips, and pumpkins including one as Pinhead from Hellraiser
November 1, 2025 at 3:20 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
October 31, 2025 at 11:35 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Watermelon radishes, for next year
Three Radishes with creepy smiles, largest one in the middle, with gnarly roots growing upwards like weird hair standing up. Green-tinged white skin outside with bright red flesh inside.
October 31, 2025 at 8:36 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
It appears that Last Door has wiped its My Recovery Plan page from its website, but the navigation is still active.

After four years of implementation, My Recovery Plan is being decommissioned by the Alberta government without explanation: drugdatadecoded.ca/province-to-...
Last Door website showing page not found when "Community" dropdown menu is navigated to "My Recovery Plan"
October 27, 2025 at 9:58 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
It is valid criticism that FOI offices apply discretionary reductions too broadly and easily. But they’re largely managing their own risks in doing so, under tight timelines.

That said, I also have evidence that Alberta deputy ministers sign off on FOIs — some redactions are definitely political.
2. Amend widely used sections to be narrower, forcing additional disclosure I recommend starting with sections 13 and 14 of FIPPA. Section 13 enables a public body to redact information that constitutes advice or recommendations made to the public body. The intention of the section is to enable public body employees to offer frank advice without concern for FOI, but its application is too broad. Amend the section so that it cannot be applied to advice or a recommendation that has been acted upon, and make the section expire entirely after five years. Presently, the section expires after 10 years.
October 24, 2025 at 11:18 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Sadly, this isn’t even surprising having now seen the way that media deals with the police in Calgary—emails show trusting, friendly, even warm relationships between CPS media relations and the press.
drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-poli...
Email from CTV to Calgary Police opening with “Hey media friends”. Proceeds to ask if they have any comment, then fails to report on the story, likely after no comment is given. An email from Citynews to Calgary police, discussing a story that had all documents provided, that the journalist only had to open to access, but instead of looking at the evidence is asking the police if the reports are true. Journalist refers to the claims as “propaganda” driven by “sour grapes” about the way the police conduct drug policy.
October 20, 2025 at 1:00 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
4B looking for support in Edmonton as cold weather sets in. 🥶

These folks do a lot of frostbite treatment and prevention among communities subjected to it by state abuse at the hands of police for the benefit of developers.
www.instagram.com/p/DP9kJ4GgTe...
Instagram post of 4B harm reduction call for donations: snacks , hand warmers, restaurant gift cards, drinks, warm clothing. Donations dropped in ritchie, Edmonton or a PayPal are available. QR code is provided in post.
October 20, 2025 at 10:41 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
r/alberta took this down as not being Alberta-related enough, further confirming the extent to which reddit in AB is governed by cops. Please share with anyone confused about Chief Neufeld’s resignation.
This post was removed for violating our expectations on the type of submissions We are looking for in the subReddit that it was not deemed related to Alberta. This is better suited to r/Calgary.
October 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
The Vancouver police chief expressed approval of the compassion club before it was raided and its organizers arrested. They are now on trial for trafficking.
In the recording, the officers reply that this is “great work that you’re doing” and that they are “happy to assist in any way we can.” The court heard Kalicum sent emails to Heard, then-police chief Adam Palmer and then-interim chief Fiona Wilson, in which he’d give updates on DULF and highlight how DULF and the VPD shared the same goals of keeping people safe. Wilson even followed DULF on Twitter and said in an email to Kalicum that she takes an interest in anything that can be done legally to save lives and thought the organization’s Twitter account could be a good source of information.
October 14, 2025 at 2:34 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
What real solutions look like:
What real solutions look like Barrie’s cruelty is not inevitable. Across Canada and internationally, models exist for addressing homelessness with dignity and effectiveness: Housing First: Prioritize permanent, supportive housing without preconditions. Studies across Canada show that Housing First reduces chronic homelessness and saves public money in the long run. Income supports: Raise social assistance and disability rates to levels that actually cover rent, food, and basic needs. Current Ontario Works and ODSP rates leave people destitute by design. Harm reduction and health services: Provide supervised consumption sites, addiction treatment, and mental health services. Shelter expansion with dignity: Invest in warming and cooling centres, transitional housing, and shelters that respect privacy and autonomy. Community solidarity: Encourage, not criminalize, acts of compassion, from food distribution to donation drives, recognizing that communities survive through mutual aid as much as formal services.
October 12, 2025 at 1:18 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Last year I criticized Vincent Lam for his congratulatory framing in a Globe piece, in which Timmins opening a detox drove a reduction in overdose deaths.

But the data suggested those deaths had been pushed out to “home communities” through brutal municipal policy.

ricochet.media/justice/hous...
Displacement as policy The emergency declaration revealed what Barrie has long wanted: not to solve homelessness, but to export it. Nuttall has been explicit that part of the city’s strategy is to “repatriate” unhoused people to their “home communities.” Translation: if you are poor, unhoused, and without family support, you are not welcome here. Barrie’s solution is banishment.
October 12, 2025 at 12:58 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
The reason for the 'overspending' in this program claimed by the UCP is that demand for these supplies increased.

Part of the demand increase is certainly related to mass decampments, particularly in Edmonton, where thousands of tents and millions of lbs of belongings have been stolen by cops.
Graph showing a more than quadrupling in distribution of stem pipes and bubble pipes at a supervised consumption site in Edmonton, from. August 2024 to April 2025.
October 6, 2025 at 1:27 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
The government has known *for six months* that a huge shortfall was choking off supplies that help prevent HIV and HepC transmission while creating critical connections between outreach groups and people they serve to access basic care.
drugdatadecoded.ca/recovery-alb...
Table showing decreases in monthly procurement volumes for three types of drug use pipes: straight shooters, bubbles and hammers. Hammers, the most expensive, saw a 71% decreases in procurement between the 2022-24 years and the 2025 average.
October 6, 2025 at 1:23 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Montreal last week during a march protesting the killing of Nooran Reyazi by the police. 📸 @tedrutland.bsky.social
Photo of a column of police marching alongside protesters. One officer is wearing a helmet, sunglasses and a mask pulled up above their nose, completely obscuring their face.
October 3, 2025 at 1:46 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
The only problem that the won’t-search-the-landfills Conservatives see with the torture timeout law is that people might temporarily ease the torture.
The Opposition Progressive Conservatives said they have a number of questions about the NDP government’s bill, such as where people would be detained. The bill is so vaguely worded, it could see people held at hospitals, where families are awaiting medical care, or inside a supervised consumption site, where drugs may be readily available, Opposition leader Obby Khan said.
October 3, 2025 at 10:10 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Oh good, the Manitoba government has the support of the chief of one of the most abusive police forces for its proposed torture timeout law.

If ‘wellness checks’ are the top call for Winnipeg police, then Winnipeg has a gross misallocation of resources problem.
The idea was supported by Winnipeg police Chief Gene Bowers, who said the longer periods would reduce the number of calls police receive about intoxicated people posing a threat to themselves or others. “Check-the-well-being calls for the Winnipeg police is the top call that we have as a service, and definitely these calls tie up a lot of resources,” Bowers said.
October 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Manitoba government proposes torture timeout up to 72 hours for people on meth.

I mean definitionally torture: the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy define cold-turkey withdrawal as torture.
www.humanrights-drugpolicy.org/guidelines/o...
6. FREEDOM FROM TORTURE, CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment are absolutely prohibited, in all circumstances. This includes during the arrest, questioning, and detention of persons alleged to have committed drug-related crimes or otherwise implicated during an investigation. The withholding of drugs from those who need them for medical purposes, including for drug dependence treatment and pain relief, is considered a form of torture
October 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Calgary Chamber of Commerce just issued its election position on public safety.
Recommendations look familiar if you saw Calgary police present their failed "Operation CERTainty" results at Sept commission mtg 😂 1/
calgarychamber.com/whats-new/74...
www.calgarypolicecommission.ca/wp-content/u...
Chamber Recommendations To improve community safety and promote business success, the Chamber recommends Mayor and City Council: Develop a police report tracking application that can provide businesses and Calgarians with relevant information on the status of filed police reports. Provide micro-grants for small businesses to invest in safety and security improvements. Create a by-law prohibiting open-air drug use, ensuring offenders are fined and directed into the Calgary Community Court system. Continue to meaningfully address public safety on Calgary Transit by prioritizing funding for overnight access and intake social service providers. Expand Calgary’s available day spaces to support people experiencing homelessness. Expand staffed public washroom facilities in high foot traffic areas throughout the city. Address systemic issues driving public and social disorder, in conjunction with federal and provincial governments. Calgary police: Challenges & Advocacy Bylaw for open-air consumption Enhanced Peace Officer authorities Safe day spaces outside downtown Extended Navigation Centre hours Long-term support needs
October 2, 2025 at 8:27 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
Israel is beginning to intercept the Global Sumud Flotilla but 38 of 44 boats remain sailing. The leads boats are <100 nm from Gaza.
#flotilla #gaza
globalsumudflotilla.org/tracker/
Map of the eastern end of the Mediterranean sea showing the tracks of about 20 boats shown as arrows all heading the same direction.
October 1, 2025 at 9:19 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
✅ White cowboy hat, ruined
A dipshit Nazi in police garb with sunglasses and a white cowboy hat struts away from a failed capture of a food delivery driver on a city street.
September 29, 2025 at 12:26 PM
drugdatadecoded.ca
🧵 My story, "What's Wrong With Rehab?" won Gold for Long-Form at Alberta Magazine Awards last night!

Thanks to @albertaviews.bsky.social & all who shared expertise: Brandon Shaw, Esther Tailfeathers, @ehyshka.bsky.social, David Hodgins & recovery workers. 1/
albertaviews.ca/whats-wrong-...
What’s Wrong With Rehab? The lack of accountability in the “Alberta Model” for dealing with drug use By Euan thomson March 1, 2024 A A A On a frigid February night in Edmonton, I’m downtown with 4B Harm Reduction. The street outreach conducted by this non-profit society is time-tested—scour the city’s forgotten corners for people who need support. On any given shift, they might respond to drug poisonings, frostbite, heatstroke, hunger, fatigue-induced psychosis or the many barriers to accessing shelter. Mostly 4B aims to keep hope alive despite society’s structural neglect. Tonight we’ve gathered in an underground LRT station passageway. Beside us, a long stretch of yellow fencing separates us from a lone electrical outlet, a rare treasure in public spaces. The outlet was recently deemed too popular among the city’s unhoused citizens—hence the fence. Through slurred speech, Brandon Shaw fawns over my toque, which reads “Hoot ’n’ Blow” beside an owl logo. I offer it as a trade for his, but he declines. Someone later explains Shaw was afraid he’d picked up lice in the shelters. He was protecting me.
September 26, 2025 at 10:20 AM
drugdatadecoded.ca
How about they reassign officers from the drug squad.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Conclusions and Relevance The findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that the enforcement of drug distribution laws to increase public safety for residents in San Francisco may be having an unintended negative consequence of increasing opioid overdose mortality. To reduce overdose mortality, it may be better to focus on evidence-based health policies and interventions.
September 25, 2025 at 1:33 PM