HRNA_AIIRM

Extremely disappointing to see the lack of accountability and compassion from municipal leaders here.

“there's no correlation between our actions and the overdose events so no one's holding us to blame for that,”

Counterpoint, saying “we’re not to blame” does not exonerate you.

🧵

#bcpoli

BCCDC - Drug Alert - Province of BC January 26, 2026 • Posted by BCCDC BCCDC is issuing a province-wide alert because of an increase in drug poisonings. Opioids/down now often contain the sedative medetomidine. Watch for sedation, low heart rate. Use drug checking. Use at an OPS/SCS or with a buddy. Learn more: Medetomidine Advisory Poster

🚨Province-wide drug alert in BC🚨

The BCCDC has issued an alert due to an increase in drug poisonings.

“Opioids/down now often contain the sedative medetomidine.”

Poster: towardtheheart.com/assets/uploa...

Alert: towardtheheart.com/alerts

#bcpoli

UBCIC’s statement is a vital reminder that Indigenous leadership, human rights, and evidence-informed public health responses must be centred in decisions that affect people who use drugs.

We share their call for accountability, partnership, and policies grounded in care, not criminalization.

The HRNA stands with the UBCIC and echoes the serious concerns they have raised about BC’s decision to end the decriminalization pilot.

We are grateful for UBCIC’s leadership in naming the harms of returning to punitive approaches amidst this ongoing public health emergency.

#bcpoli #cdnpoli

Statement and call to action from members of our Beyond Do No Harm Network—as they point out, coercion and involuntary treatment for substance use disorders violates the ethical obligations of their role as health care workers, "undermines human rights, and will increase, not reduce, harm":

BC NDP Aims to side-step another legal challenge to broaden the criminalization of mental health, substance use The politics of the Mental Health Act amendments in Bill 32 reflect a trend of the BC NDP circumventing court rulings under Premier Eby’s leadership.

NEW analysis in The Mainlander:

The politics of the Mental Health Act amendments in Bill 32 reflect a trend of the BC NDP circumventing court rulings under Premier Eby’s leadership.
themainlander.com/2025/12/05/b...

We must subject these policies to critical scrutiny:

Who benefits from involuntary drug treatment?

Not the patients. Not the nurses, doctors, or other allied healthcare professionals.

Do you feel safer knowing the gov is changing laws to protect care providers so they can violate patient rights?

There are many reasons oppose BC’s plan to expand involuntary drug treatment. Not everything could be covered in a single statement.

Today, let’s talk about some of the evidence + ethical implications of co-opting caring professionals + requiring them to violate their professional ethics.

#bcpoli

September 10, 2024 An open letter to the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health; the Honourable Ya'ara Saks, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions; the Honourable Adrian Dix, British Columbia Minister of Health; and the Honourable Jennifer Whiteside, British Columbia Minister of Mental Health and Addictions on harm reduction practices in B.C. hospitals.

When nurses and other caring professionals are required to violate their own code of ethics, they face a heightened risk of moral injury.

In 2024, the @hrna.bsky.social and @canadanurses.bsky.social wrote an open letter to then-Federal Health Minister Mark Holland.

Harm Reduction Nurses Association & Doctors for Safer Drug Policy encourage colleagues to stand down from implementing BC NDP Mental Health Act changes Proposals to expand so-called “involuntary treatment” for substance use disorders is not a health intervention, it is a political response to fear, misinformation, and moral panic.

Read the statement from @hrna.bsky.social and @dsdp.ca here 👇

www.policeoversight.ca/p/harm-reduc...

Healthcare workers can sign this community petition launched in 2024:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Say no to involuntary treatment—say yes to human rights, evidence, and compassion.

#bcpoli

care is not forced.

read the full statement from @hrna.bsky.social & Doctors for Safer Drug Policy here: www.policeoversight.ca/p/harm-reduc...

bsky.app/profile/dsdp...

Refusal Campaign: BC Healthcare Workers Against Involuntary Treatment Leading up to the recent provincial elections, both the BC NDP Party and the BC Conservative Party announced that they will expand "involuntary care" in a manner that will especially target precarious...

Sign the community-led petition here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Harm Reduction Nurses Association & Doctors for Safer Drug Policy encourage colleagues to stand down from implementing BC NDP Mental Health Act changes Proposals to expand so-called “involuntary treatment” for substance use disorders is not a health intervention, it is a political response to fear, misinformation, and moral panic.

Please join our campaign with @power1312.bsky.social, CSSDP, and @hrna.bsky.social to push back on the dark direction the BC government is taking substance use policy and mental health care.

Read the statement here: www.policeoversight.ca/p/harm-reduc...

Screenshot from "Committee of the Whole" on "Bill 32 — Mental Health Amendment Act (No. 2), 2025" in the BC legislature. Text reads: "The B.C. Human Rights Commissioner stated that involuntary treatment for substance use violates autonomy and self-determination, disproportionately harms Indigenous, Black, disabled, gender-diverse and low-income people, lacks evidentiary support and cannot be justified when B.C.’s voluntary community-based system is profoundly under-resourced. In a joint letter, Harm Reduction Nurses Association and Doctors for Safer Drug Policy write that compulsory substance use treatment is ineffective and dangerous. They state — and I’m coming to a question: 'The evidence is clear and consistent. Compulsory treatment has no demonstrated long-term benefit. Relapse rates are extraordinarily high. One study reported 96.4 percent relapse within two months after mandated treatment. The risks of overdose and death are significantly elevated immediately after discharge from compulsory treatment. Involuntary settings sever trust, increase trauma and escalate risk. Leading human rights scholars have concluded that mass detention for treatment constitutes a grave violation of human rights and cannot be justified by claims of substance use disorder alone. 'As research and our clinical experience demonstrate, people are most vulnerable to overdose after periods of forced abstinence. Coercion increases risk; it does not reduce it.'"

Thank you @robbotterell.bsky.social for bringing @hrna.bsky.social and our words to the heart of the debate on @davidebybc.bsky.social's plans to expand involuntary treatment and pre-empt the results of a longstanding charter challenge by disability rights groups and others.

#harmreduction #bcpoli

B.C. sees record number of 911 calls about toxic drug overdoses, health authority says | CBC News The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) said that British Columbia has seen a record number of 911 calls related to toxic drug poisonings, as officials issue warnings about an increasingly tainted s...

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The predictable, ongoing result of a total failure to replace the unregulated supply with a regulated one.

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services responded to 54 overdoses last Friday - the most in a single day in the department's history. Averaged 16 per day in May.

There has been a surge in ODs reported all across the province in the past few weeks.

We are calling on colleagues, health-care associations, unions, regulatory bodies, and public health leaders to endorse the statement, share it widely, and join us in demanding voluntary, evidence-based, rights-affirming responses to the toxic drug crisis.

#WeRefuse #bcpoli #harmreduction

Harm Reduction Nurses Association & Doctors for Safer Drug Policy encourage colleagues to stand down from implementing BC NDP Mental Health Act changes Proposals to expand so-called “involuntary treatment” for substance use disorders is not a health intervention, it is a political response to fear, misinformation, and moral panic.

We honour people with lived and living experience who have long resisted coercive drug policy, including those who launched last year’s petition opposing involuntary care. Their leadership continues to guide this work.

Statement: www.policeoversight.ca/p/harm-reduc...
Petition: shorturl.at/ZHh2E

A raised fist, clenched in power. Text reads: "WE REFUSE: Health Workers Against Involuntary Care. A joint statement and call to action from Harm Reduction Nurses Association and Doctors for Safer Drug Policy." Below that are logos for HRNA and DSDP.

We Refuse: Health Workers Against Involuntary Care is now public.

@hrna.bsky.social and DSDP are circulating a joint statement opposing BC’s plan to expand involuntary drug treatment. This approach is ineffective, increases overdose risk, violates autonomy, and harms marginalized communities.

YouTube video by HRNA AIIRM Protecting Life, Not Punishing Help: Understanding the Supreme Court’s Good Samaritan Ruling

In case you missed this webinar hosted by @hrna.bsky.social, you can check out the recording here!

youtu.be/5_eu8Je7WDU?...

Support DULF by making a donation to their legal fund: https://www.zeffy.com/en- CA/donation-form/dulf-legal-aid-ii-the-final-push

Support DULF by making a donation to their legal fund:
www.zeffy.com/en-CA/donati...

The Harm Reduction Nurses Association stands in unwavering solidarity with the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) as they launch their constitutional challenge of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) in BC Supreme Court. As nurses and allied healthcare providers, we recognize that the solutions that will keep people alive amidst this ongoing unregulated toxic drug crisis will not come from existing systems that uphold prohibition and carceral punishment; and we applaud the courage and innovation that Jeremy and Eris have demonstrated through their successful life-saving compassion club on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The solutions that will keep people alive amidst this unregulated toxic drug crisis will not come from existing systems that uphold prohibition + carceral punishment; we applaud the courage + innovation that Jeremy + Eris have demonstrated through their life-saving compassion club.

A collage of photos of nurses and other allied care providers wearing shirts supporting the Drug User Liberation Front and denouncing stigma. Many signs say “nurses” or “we support” DULF.

NURSES ACROSS CANADA SUPPORT DULF

The Harm Reduction Nurses Association stands in unwavering solidarity with the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) as they launch their constitutional challenge of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) in BC Supreme Court.

#bcpoli #cdnpoli

You really have to read both of @kwardvancouver.bsky.social’s skeet’s to get how fucked up this is. I’ll just put the headlines side by side.

Displacement and evictions are forms of violence. They result in very observable harms including death and irreparable injury.

#bcpoli

A human rights-based approach to the toxic drug crisis | BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner The Commissioner’s position on the toxic drug crisis, calling for an evidence-based response that centers public health and compassion.

”…this continually unfolding tragedy is a violation of human rights and the result of systemic discrimination…”

B.C. Human Rights Commissioner’s Statement on the Toxic Drug Crisis

bchumanrights.ca/resources/pu...

“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.”

Everyone should take a moment to read this statement from the BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner.

#bcpoli

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

Demonstration at the Parliament building with people holding signs saying “DULF SAVES LIVES”

👀👀👀

DULF co-founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum were each found guilty of three counts of trafficking meth, heroin and cocaine this morning.
The pair are launching a constitutional challenge later this month of the CDSA and their convictions won't be entered until then. Story up shortly on @thetyee.ca