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tdbrothers.bsky.social
Tommy Brothers
@tdbrothers.bsky.social
790 followers 290 following 10 posts
MD, PhD, FRCPC | general internal medicine & addiction medicine doctor | social epidemiologist & health services researcher | Nova Scotian
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
kwardvancouver.bsky.social
Cleverly commenting “Who could have seen this coming,” is a how people use irony to dissociate from the reality that as a society we’re discarding people, abandoning people to death

globalnews.ca/news/1154127...
Toronto reports more visible drug use after supervised injection sites closed down - Toronto | Globalnews.ca
The City of Toronto is reporting an increase in visible drug use in the wake of the Ford government's decision to pull funding for several safe-injection sites earlier this year.
globalnews.ca
November 26, 2025 at 5:22 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
ehyshka.bsky.social
"Alberta’s Compassionate Intervention Act — which will allow for the involuntary admission of people who use substances, even when they have[..]capacity to make decisions about their care — lacks sufficient evidence of effectiveness + poses substantial ethical concerns"

www.cmaj.ca/content/197/...
Involuntary treatment for substance use: application of Kass’ ethical framework to Alberta’s Compassionate Intervention Act
Key points In Canada, more than 50 000 opioid-related deaths have occurred since September 2024, mostly in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, where governments are all in various stages of develo...
www.cmaj.ca
November 25, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
ehyshka.bsky.social
globalnews.ca/news/1154127...
Toronto reports more visible drug use after supervised injection sites closed down - Toronto | Globalnews.ca
The City of Toronto is reporting an increase in visible drug use in the wake of the Ford government's decision to pull funding for several safe-injection sites earlier this year.
globalnews.ca
November 25, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
addictionjournal.bsky.social
Motivational smoking cessation counselling and community-based follow-up after hospitalisation for vascular disease: A randomised controlled trial buff.ly/SRMuN4C
November 25, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
andreawoo.bsky.social
Jeremy Kalicum, convicted of trafficking for his role in operating an illicit-drug compassion club, provided a window into his motivations, telling a BC court about his brother’s addiction and the effects of seeing hundreds of ODs but no meaningful response
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
B.C. man who bought dark web drugs for compassion club says he wanted to reduce overdoses
Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx are challenging the constitutionality of Canada’s drug laws, saying they increase the risk of harm or death
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
andreawoo.bsky.social
The two organizers of an illicit-drug compassion club in Vancouver, convicted this month of trafficking for providing members w/ heroin, cocaine and meth, are back in court challenging Canada’s drug laws as unconstitutional for depriving users of safer options
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Vancouver’s Drug User Liberation Front organizers challenging Canada’s drug laws
Court challenge claims laws are unconstitutional for depriving users of safer options
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
gregggonsalves.bsky.social
I am grateful for @adamjkucharski.bsky.social. He takes such care to deconstruct a claim made by the director of National Institutes of Health on excess mortality during the pandemic. We need sober analyses more than ever right now, even amidst the madness.

kucharski.substack.com/p/excess-mor...
Excess mortality or excessive assumptions?
How to make a popular metric tell any story you like
kucharski.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
ehyshka.bsky.social
CRISM Prairies has a national webinar series that launch in September.

If you are interested in supervised consumption services, rapid access to addiction medicine clinics, or compulsory drug treatment, check out the first three talks here:

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
CRISM Addiction Rounds - YouTube
This playlist shares webinar recordings from the CRISM Prairies hosted Addiction Rounds a new learning initiative addressing addiction related issues. These ...
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
ehyshka.bsky.social
Great interview with my colleague Dr. Kathryn Dong about what the loss of the Royal Alex supervised consumption service means for patients and the hospital.

www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

#ableg #yeg
Radio Active with Jessica Ng, Min Dhariwal | Live Radio | CBC Listen
Jessica Ng and Min Dhariwal will catch you up with everything that happened during the day --- we'll explore the city with fresh eyes and have fun doing it. If you want to be entertained and informed ...
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-52-radio-active#:~:text=Nov.%2021%2C%202025%3A%20What%20the%20closure%20of%20a%20hospital%2Dbased%20safe%20consumption%20site%20means%20for%20patients#ableg
November 21, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
canadahealthwatch.ca
Saskatoon reports 104 overdoses, two deaths in one week https://www.ctvnews.ca/saskatoon/article/saskatoon-reports-104-overdoses-two-deaths-in-one-week/

𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter
Naloxone kit file photo.
November 20, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
danielbuchman.bsky.social
“Has the claim that addiction is a brain disease helped or harmed those experiencing drug-related harm epistemically?”

This is also an important Q for contested conditions, eg chronic pain, which are increasingly understood as a disease.

#bioethics #stigma

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The brain disease model of addiction and epistemic injustice
The brain disease model of addiction (BDMA) is a dominant, if highly contested, model of drug addiction globally. Over many decades, researchers have …
www.sciencedirect.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
msthpetra.bsky.social
Rather than preventing overdoses, the UCP bets on teams who may or may not find people in time.

“The recovery response team will work around the clock with the Royal Alexandra’s security services to help people who are overdosing in and around the hospital.”

#abpoli

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Province closing supervised drug consumption site at Edmonton’s Royal Alex | CBC News
The province is closing a supervised drug consumption site at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton next month.
www.cbc.ca
November 20, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
friendsofmedicare.bsky.social
“This government’s ideological opposition to evidence-based, life-saving care interventions will put Albertans at unnecessary risk of avoidable drug poisoning, and put our health care systems under even more strain,” said Chris Gallaway, FOM's executive director.

www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/art...
Province replacing supervised consumption site at Royal Alex with recovery-oriented service
The Alberta government is shutting down the supervised drug-consumption site at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital and replacing it with a recovery-oriented addiction service.
www.ctvnews.ca
November 19, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
msthpetra.bsky.social
This photo was taken during the press conference for the opening of the consumption site at the RA Hospital in #yeg.
The photographer caught me in a private moment reflecting how such a site could saved Danny.
The closure of the SCS means more people suffer and more families mourn.
#ABpoli
Photo of me (older white woman with blond medium-length hair) in the atrium of the RA hospital, wearing a red dress holding a photo of my late son Danny. My eyes are closer in silent reflection.
November 19, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
friendsofmedicare.bsky.social
Yet another Alberta Supervised Consumption Site is being shuttered, this one at the Royal Alex.

“Today’s announcement is yet another blow to evidence-based addictions care,” says FOM's Chris Gallaway: www.friendsofmedicare.org/closure_of_a...

➡️Take action: www.friendsofmedicare.org/isupportharm...
Blue-filtered photo of an emergency department sign. Text reads, "Closure of Another Supervised Consumption Site Will Lead to More Harm. Read FOM's Response: friendsofmedicare.org/news"
November 19, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
ehyshka.bsky.social
“evidence from around the world clearly shows that health outcomes and access to care worsen when a private system operates in parallel to a public one”

#ableg

apple.news/A3FcdZAkITye...
Alberta defends public-private health care model as experts say it could violate Canada Health Act — The Globe and Mail
Critics have raised concerns about the province’s plans to allow doctors to work in both systems simultaneously
apple.news
November 19, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
kwardvancouver.bsky.social
“The Lovejoy Trap is a tool people use to construct their identities in a way that makes them appear morally virtuous. It’s also frighteningly effective at packaging extreme inhumanity as being necessary ‘for the children.’”
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-lovejoy-...
November 19, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
ehyshka.bsky.social
Under the Compassionate Intervention Act, people with substance use disorder can be forced to take any prescription medication without consent. It doesn't matter if they have decisional capacity. While doctors are involved, ultimately a lawyer gets to decide what the treatment order will be. #ableg
thebreakdownab.bsky.social The Breakdown AB @thebreakdownab.bsky.social · 8d
“When a government grants itself license to override physician judgment and patient consent, who - at any stage of life — will be next?”

The AMA raising very serious concerns about the UCP’s invocation of the notwithstanding clause.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
November 19, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
ehyshka.bsky.social
New qual paper from our team detailing emergency department staff perspectives on how the pandemic impacted care of patients with opioid use disorder. 🧪

doi.org/10.1007/s436...
November 18, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
liammichaud.bsky.social
Belatedly sharing this study on the rapid rise of manslaughter charges in Canada against people alleged to have shared or sold drugs that led to an accidental overdose death. Police agencies are quietly changing investigative procedures to recast medical emergencies as homicide scenes. #drugsky
Prosecuting Overdose: Manslaughter Charges Against People Who Use, Share, and Sell Drugs in Canada | Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société | Cambridge Core
Prosecuting Overdose: Manslaughter Charges Against People Who Use, Share, and Sell Drugs in Canada - Volume 39 Issue 2
www.cambridge.org
November 18, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
andreawoo.bsky.social
Health Canada convened an independent expert advisory group in 2020 to provide guidance on safer supply. Health Canada heavily redacted its final report, but unredacted version obtained by CBC shows the expert group said drug crisis is driven by prohibition and recommended expansion of safer supply
Screen shot of findings by Health Canada Expert Advisory Group on Safer Supply: - Canada's overdose crisis is driven by prohibition, and an illegal market - Prescribed medications like Dilaudid do not meet the needs of all drug users Screen shot of recommendations by Health Canada Expert Advisory Group on Safer Supply: - Expand access to more prescription opioids and stimulants - Consider legal and regulated compassion clubs and retail stores
November 16, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
picardonhealth.bsky.social
Health Canada ignored expert advice to expand access to safer drugs for opioid users, internal documents show. There are no plans to renew funding for safer supply programs, says Health Canada.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... via @cbcnews.ca
They’re at risk of dying from opioid overdose. The government cut funding that could help them | CBC News
As deadly drug overdoses climbed across Canada, decision-makers faced political backlash for funding programs that gave drug users prescribed opioids and, against their own experts’ advice, scaled bac...
www.cbc.ca
November 16, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
picardonhealth.bsky.social
The political war on safer drugs. Canada’s toxic drug crisis has led to tens of thousands of deaths and cost the health and justice systems billions. But politics keep getting in the way of solutions. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJ-... via @cbcnews.ca
The political war on safe drugs | Full episode | the fifth estate
YouTube video by the fifth estate
www.youtube.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
markpetticrew.bsky.social
New study: Alcohol industry-funded charities still misleading the public:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Previous research identified alcohol industry misinformation about pregnancy and infant health. Dr Gemma Mitchell's new study finds that misinformation continues in Aus, Can, Ire, SA, UK & US.
Do alcohol industry-funded organisations act to correct misinformation? A qualitative study of pregnancy and infant health content following independent analysis - Globalization and Health
Background Access to reliable, accurate, and up-to-date health information is a crucial component of global population health. Like other health-harming industries, the alcohol industry is known to pr...
link.springer.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Tommy Brothers
kwardvancouver.bsky.social
A human rights-based approach to the toxic drug crisis would require public policy that recognizes the full humanity of people who use unregulated drugs

which would be a whole new thing
Conclusion As Human Rights Commissioner, I strongly believe in applying a human rights-based approach to the toxic drug crisis, thereby centring compassion and evidence-based policy, and largely shifting from a criminal justice response to a public health one. Inadequate social policy, rooted in ableism, classism and racism and developed by colonial governments, coupled with inaccessible mental health supports and pervasive stigma, are the drivers of this crisis. Using punitive tactics by criminalizing people who use drugs and doubling down on prohibition policies have proven to be ineffective and harmful for decades. B.C.’s leading experts have been issuing clear, evidence-based recommendations for a decade, and yet the provincial government has acted in contradiction of those recommendations at the expense of those most marginalized in our province. As Commissioner, I support their calls to action. Government’s obligation is to save lives, reduce harm and improve quality of life for those who have been marginalized, while working toward greater equity for everyone. This means respecting the rights of people who use drugs, reducing stigma, preventing the circumstances that lead to substance use and dependence and developing effective services and programs based on evidence rather than ideology. Effective human rights-based drug policy is, first and foremost, the right approach for the rights and wellbeing of people who use drugs; secondarily, but not unimportantly, it is also the most effective means of addressing the impacts of the toxic drug crisis on the broader community.
November 14, 2025 at 1:26 AM