Tommy Brothers

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...

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

YouTube video by the fifth estate The political war on safe drugs | Full episode | the fifth estate

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

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...

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.

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

‼️ DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 18!

🌟 Apply to attend the Spring 2026 New Investigator Forum (NIF), an event dedicated to supporting and promoting the professional development of infection and immunity researchers in the early stages of their careers. bit.ly/43qWTb8

What Did Men Do to Deserve This? Changes in the economy and in the culture seem to have hit them hard. Scott Galloway believes they need an “aspirational vision of masculinity.”

Really thankful for this, from @winterjessica.bsky.social—a long-overdue corrective to an exhausting discourse. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

i recommend reading this by @nolore.bsky.social
noraloreto.substack.com/p/the-big-cr...

Opinion: Cuts have left Edmonton's homeless with nowhere to go Too few Edmontonians are aware a tidal wave of recent funding cuts and closures has wiped the city’s daytime drop-in spaces off the map.

One of our (newly elected) City Council's first orders of business was to *unanimously* approve $1 million to expand access to day shelter space in Edmonton. 👏🏻

Here's our op-ed from last month on why this is so needed. edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...

#yegcc

My favorite conference is accepting abstracts!

The annual meeting of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (@issdrugpolicy.bsky.social) will be in Perth 🦘 June 30-July 2, 2026

Abstracts due Nov 30. Submit here: www.issdp.org

Please spread the word. Thx!

Factors associated with: problems of using exploratory multivariable regression to identify causal risk factors Many medical and epidemiological studies use multivariable regression to test whether several independent variables (exposures) are causal determinants of a health outcome. Where mutually adjusted reg...

Really enjoyed this clear and concise presentation of the problem with studies that throw 10 different covariates into a multiple regression and interpret them causally. So obvious in hindsight that this is problematic, but I have definetly been guilty of this.

bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/...

Factors associated with: problems of using exploratory multivariable regression to identify causal risk factors Many medical and epidemiological studies use multivariable regression to test whether several independent variables (exposures) are causal determinants of a health outcome. Where mutually adjusted reg...

In a new Methods Primer @danlewer.bsky.social and colleagues explain why when studying risk factors for health outcomes, looking at results that are statistically significant after mutual adjustment in a multivariable regression model can lead us astray.

https://bit.ly/3JzNTJI

YouTube video by Falling to Freedom Podcast Episode 21- Harm Reduction Policies: Are they helping or hurting?

Had an interesting and thoughtful conversation about harm reduction and the challenges of substance use disorder with Chad LaComb. www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0b-...

…FAW (atheoretical exploratory multiple regression) may be a subset of black box epi

We argue the FAW approach combines and compounds multiple sources of bias & results are particularly untrustworthy

But these criticisms wouldn’t apply to careful & thoughtful descriptive work

Thanks for engaging with this- my understanding from those commentaries and Skrabenek’s essays are that “black box” epi refers to hypothesized/tested/observed associations when the underlying causal mechanisms are unknown or unclear…

Thanks for this excellent effort. Very well articulated with clarity.
That Conclusion paragraph just nailed it. 🙏🏼

This is useful for me. I'm increasingly finding that I have to push back when reviewers try to make me use "risk factor" frames. My work now includes conceptual frameworks (at least) to ground the analysis and make it clear that it's not a fishing expedition (fishing for p<.05) 🎣

My own TLDR for the message from this paper:

statsepi.substack.com/p/sorry-what...

I think the key difference is that you propose testing hypotheses- in the paper we criticize specifically those commonly-done studies where there is no a priori hypothesis

Much good observational research models & tests a specific hypothesis

A "methods primer" article in the journal "BMJ Medicine", titled "Factors associated with: problems of using exploratory multivariable regression to identify causal risk factors"

We wrote an article explaining why you shouldn't put several variables into a regression model and report which are statistically significant - even as exploratory research. bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/.... How did we do?

Thanks to all 130+ of you who joined us and @stephenhrnrp.bsky.social today! Recording available soon. On 2/11, Dr. Hansel Tookes will speak on advancing the health of PWUD in diverse political contexts.

🔗 medicine.yale.edu/internal-med...

You’re laughing.

The plagiarism slop factories that eat rivers to steal human creativity are exploding and you’re laughing.

More Unsanctioned OPC to Pop Up Outside Hospitals Across Canada Two months after doctors in British Columbia set up a pair of unsanctioned overdose prevention centers (OPC) outside local hospitals, ...

Two months after doctors in British Columbia set up unsanctioned overdose prevention centers (OPC) outside local hospitals, other health care workers and activists around Canada are opening pop-ups of their own, join the ranks of Doctors for Safer Drug Policy (DSDP).
filtermag.org/overdose-pre...

A group of People sitting around a table

Not Everybody has Internet, so @crackdown.bsky.social has listening parties. You can listen along at home: www.crackdownpod.com/episodes/epi...

Call for abstracts - #ISSDP2025💥

The 18th International Society for Study of Drug Policy Conference will be held in #Manchester, UK from June 11-13, 2025 with a focus on #DrugPolicy & #SocialJustice.

Submit your abstract today!

⏰ Due: Jan 31 2025 pretalx.com/internationa...

Opinion: Let’s listen to those impacted by toxic drugs to help end the crisis "Every drug death is preventable and we must aim for nothing less than zero deaths."

Four data-driven actions we should take in 2025 to prevent drug poisoning and save lives. #yeg #ableg

edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...

💥🌍 #DrugPolicy folk - please spread the word about #ISSDP2025 🌏💥

The call for abstracts for the 18th International Society for Study of Drug Policy Conference in #Manchester, UK from June 11-13, 2025 is now open!

We have scholarships too.

⏰ Abstracts due 31 Jan

www.issdp.org/conferences-...

UPCOMING ZOOM EVENT: Thurs Jan 30th 4:30-6pm EST

"From insight to impact: Community-Engaged Research for Collaborative Solutions" with Dr. Sarah Febres-Cordero. Share widely and bring your questions!

Register: bit.ly/Jan2025Roundtable

Safe inhalation pipe provision (SIPP): protocol for a mixed-method evaluation of an intervention to improve health outcomes and service engagement among people who use crack cocaine in England - Harm ... Background Over 180,000 people use crack cocaine in England, yet provision of smoking equipment to support safer crack use is prohibited under UK law. Pipes used for crack cocaine smoking are often ho...

At City Hall to present on SIPP Project for London Drugs Forum. Safer inhalation pipe provision for people who use crack getting lots of overdue attention. Time for legislative reform! 😃 @lshtm.bsky.social @releasedrugs.bsky.social harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

An overdose prevention site staffed by physicians and other volunteers outside the Comox Valley Hospital. Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and Moms Stop the Harm banners are visible.

Another unsanctioned pop up overdose prevention site opened today care of @docs4saferdrugs.bsky.social in Courtenay Comox.

Doctors open two unsanctioned overdose prevention sites at Vancouver Island hospitals Physicians and volunteers say they plan to run the sites for at least the first three days of this week to protest inaction on harm reduction services

Docs have set up unsanctioned overdose prevention site at Comox hospital this week to draw attention to broken promise by gov to open such sites (earlier story: theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...) Asked if gov will now commit, Osborne says BC working on minimum standards, no commitment now