Ginetta Salvalaggio

🧵 SUPERVISED CONSUMPTION CLOSURES

It’s been obvious for years that Alberta’s UCP government wants the sites closed.

So what’s stopped them? Why didn’t they just do it after Kenney said he wouldn’t “help addicts inject poison” in 2018?

They needed plausible legitimacy. 1/

The government is taking credit for the fact that Albertans are sicker and doctors are working harder, and calling it a 'gift' to the profession.

ABs shouldn't be fooled by their song and dance...

Even worse: govt is spending MORE per pt in CSFs and private delivery!
4/4

"Inaccurate data": How Recovery Alberta officials facilitated consumption site closures (Pt 2) Selective data sharing by some of Alberta's top health officials may backstop plausible deniability for government negligence in closing sites – with impacts all the way to Ontario.

Alberta has a serious disinformation problem, its government weaponizing “experts” willing to cash in credentials for power.

Last year, that tactic — and those people — were leveraged to help close supervised consumption sites across Ontario.
drugdatadecoded.ca/inaccurate-d...

Moral Injury Or: Why We Need The Prophets Now, More Than Ever

I wrote you a piece about the concept of moral injury and why we need the voices of the prophets during times when concepts like "ethical compass" and "basic decency" elude us as a collective.

Among other things, it explains moral injury and how to heal from it, which, you know, might be useful.

political determinants of health
www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2025/01/24/a...

We have tried absolutely nothing and it hasn't worked so now the only obvious solution here is to blame others from other places.

Hey it’s me, a racialized person born in Alberta to an immigrant parent, with trans and queer friends, saying that the UCP does not get to determine who belongs here. All of us, and the Albertans yet to come, deserve to be here. And we must stand with Indigenous people to honour treaty promises.

the only motivation for encampment "sweeps" is cruelty

migrationnetwork.un.org/policy-repos...

"We can help": How Recovery Alberta facilitated consumption site closures by Ministry (Part 1) "No other sites shutting down," Recovery Alberta leaders told staff in late 2024, as the Red Deer site closure was announced. A year later, the Royal Alex Hospital site was closed. New documents revea...

SCOOP(s)
The Playbook for closing supervised consumption sites.

Far too many ledes in this story, and it’s already in two parts. (One was even a CBC headline this morning.)

Please read & share - this one cost dozens of hours and $378 in FOIP fees!
drugdatadecoded.ca/we-can-help-...

From the DM's...

A very well placed source is telling us that at least one policing agency in Alberta is compiling wishlists of individuals they immediately want to detain for forced treatment as soon as the facility is built.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

Confiscations, public health obstructions, and perpetual displacement: Experiences and perspectives on urban law enforcement practices during a period of “recriminalization” among people who use crimi... People and communities in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC) have been profoundly impacted by the toxic drug crisis, which has driven a province-wide pu…

read the first peer-reviewed research paper using data P.O.W.E.R. collected and analyzed via @ijdrugpolicy.bsky.social:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#drugsky #harmreduction @pivotlegalsociety.bsky.social @hracollective.bsky.social @harmreductionintl.bsky.social

We need stricter gun laws and universal, single payer, mental health care.

Fact check: Alberta’s new two-tier system is not “European” health care - CCPA The Alberta government is engaged in the most significant challenge to single-payer health care in Canada since the creation of public medicare

Alberta's new two-tier legislation encourages a private health insurance market for services covered under the Canada Health Act. It's a decisive shift towards U.S. health care based on greed+ profit-taking, not “European” health care @alonghurst.bsky.social www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Albertans join lobby to get feds to stop two-tier health care - Red Deer Advocate ‘Step up and protect our treasured public health care before it is too late’: Friends of Medicare

“Bill 11 brings two-tier, American-style health care to Alberta. It will mean that Albertans will experience a system where those who have money will be able to pay to have access to quicker care & the rest of us will be left waiting longer or go without," said FOM's Chris Gallaway.

Decriminalization worked. B.C. killed it anyway ⋆ The Breach The province’s drug decriminalization experiment lowered arrests and reduced harm—but it failed a different political test

Decriminalization worked. B.C. killed it anyway

The province’s drug decriminalization experiment lowered arrests and reduced harm—but it failed a different political test

breachmedia.ca/decriminaliz...

BC’s Drug Response Isn’t Following the Evidence: Former Coroner | The Tyee The province is neglecting safer supply and housing, which are proven to reduce harms, says Lisa Lapointe.

“The only people, frankly, benefiting from the current model are organized crime and some of these private residential treatment centres who are charging exorbitant amounts to families... without any evidence that those are effective,"

Read @thetyee.ca full article here: thetyee.ca/News/2026/02...

First, the UCP said there was an “election integrity crisis," which led to a voter ID law.

Then a “national unity crisis” → a sovereignty referendum.

Now a “crisis of confidence” in the courts → defunding judges.

There is no evidence of these crises.

The UCP is trying to manufacture them.

TL;DR: Alberta would need 11 hospitals in Edmonton and Calgary to be resourced to the Canadian average.
1/6 🏥 Why is Alberta’s healthcare system under such strain? It’s not "management"—it’s a numbers problem 40 years in the making. Let’s look at the data. 🧵 #AbLeg #CdnHealth

IGNORING ITS OWN DATA, B.C. REVIVES CRIMINALIZATION - Canadian Drug Policy Coalition On January 14, 2026, the province of B.C. announced it would end its limited decriminalization policy and reinstate criminal penalties for personal drug possession.1 The province’s decision not to ren...

drugpolicy.ca/bc-revives-c...

Death of premature Alberta baby with measles was not made public for months, documents show Alberta has the highest rate of cases per capita of any province or territory, and has been under scrutiny for its measles response

Death of premature Alberta baby with measles was not made public for months, documents show. Province has highest rate of measles cases per capita, and has been under scrutiny for its response, by @alannasmith.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com

Alberta seeks court dismissal for lawsuit challenging opioid-prescribing rules — The Globe and Mail Judge granted injunction in 2023 that exempted woman from rules, allowing her to continue using prescribed hydromorphone at home

“The gov't says they want people to recover and I have done that. I built my life piece by piece. Dragging this back to court and losing the privacy I have built, that is going to cause harm to my life, my reputation. I’m just confused honestly. Why this? Why now?” #ableg

apple.news/ALAY20nxMTpu...

We bought a research van! @gsalvalaggio.bsky.social @kathryndong.bsky.social

The Alberta government built this right into its substance use policy, pushing people to upload their sensitive data to a sole-sourced app — without informed consent. Those data now belong to a company.

UCP support closing SCS for ideological reasons, not on evidence-based med research.

SCS:
⬇️HIV/hepatitis ⬇️EMS/police ⬇️ER/🏥/ICU admits ⬇️morbidity & mortality ⬇️community crime ⬇️💉litter

⬆️MH, social work & HC access ⬆️addiction rehab center chances

#abpoli
#firetheucp

www.cbc.ca/news/red-dee...

"By ending the decriminalization pilot, the province is failing to treat addiction as a public-health issue, not a criminal one, and is doubling down on policies that have already caused immense harm to First Nations." - @ubcic.bsky.social President Grand Chief Stewart Phillip

Article

I regret B.C.’s decision to end its decriminalization pilot and am disappointed the province has not released an independent evaluation. When governments change course on life-and-death issues, Canadians deserve to see the evidence. See more 👇

Overdose app falters as Alberta government accelerates war on supervised consumption Launched to government fanfare on sole-source contracts, the Digital Overdose Response System app is barely used most days and has registered just 51 ambulance dispatches over four years –– around 0.1...

SCOOP 🧵
The DORS app was supposed to keep people safe while using drugs at home. But in 4 years, it has activated just 51 ambulances.

The app isn't used 41% of days.

Meanwhile, the AB govt is dismantling the option that works: supervised consumption. 1/
drugdatadecoded.ca/overdose-app...

"The Blood Tribe stands with other Treaty Nations in firm opposition to this petition and all the efforts to undermine and erode the foundations of our Treaty relationship. Alberta cannot even ask a separation question without our consent."

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

Toronto’s Supervised Consumption Sites and Local Crime This ecological cohort study evaluates the association between overdose prevention sites and supervised consumption sites and local crime and disorder in Toronto.

Toronto’s Supervised Consumption Sites and Local Crime url: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...