Ryan Meili offers an important values-based critique of the Sask Party’s “do more harm” policy on addictions treatment. But it’s worth taking a closer look at who stands to benefit from the pursuit of harm maximization and treatment-for-profit. A single private business, ROSC Solutions Group, has been trotted out by
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Dead Wild Roses: Harm Reduction Versus Rehabilitation – The B.C / Alberta Approaches.
I was a strong proponent of the Harm Reduction strategy until more data has come out about its effectiveness and benefits for society versus other methods. There might be a case for Harm Reduction, but as currently implemented in BC it is a like a 4 legged stool that is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Nathalie Grandvaux writes about the causes and impacts of a triple epidemic of respiratory viruses. And Erin Goerlich et al. study the cardiovascular effects of COVID-19, while Beth Mole reports on research showing that COVID vaccinations help protect against strokes and heart attacks
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Sara Moniuzsko reports on the World Health Organization’s recognition that COVID-19 is still causing nearly 10,000 reported deaths per month (to say nothing of unreported deaths and disabilities). And Michelle Ghoussoub reports on research confirming that access to prescribed opioids results in dramatic
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Ajit Niranjan reports on the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s findings that 2023 is on pace to be the hottest year on record, with October’s temperatures at 1.7 degrees above the pre-industrial level. – Damian Carrington highlights a UN report warning of the destructive insistence of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – William Ripple et al. offer a new and alarming state of the climate report. And Damian Carrington delves into their findings as to the precarious state of the Earth’s living environment, while Becky Ferreira highlights their warning of societal collapse within the next century
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – The Canadian Health Coalition weighs in on the recent study showing that privatized surgeries in Quebec cost more than twice what public procedures would. And Matt Bruenig discusses the U.S. Democrats’ development of a layer of bureaucracy for a child care subsidy program
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Stephanie Soucheray discusses new research linking COVID-19 to subsequent sleep disturbances and dyspnea. And Linda Geddes reports on findings showing that a growing number of cases of diabetes can also be traced to COVID. – John Bell and Alex MacKenzie argue that
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Drug Deaths, Harm Reduction and Addiction Treatment
Of late, CPC leader Pierre Poilievre has been making a lot of noise about drug addiction, deaths resulting from overdoses, and so on. So far, much of his rhetoric and “solutions” are basically boiling down to pushing people into treatment. Which misses the point entirely. One of many problems with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Nicole Grether writes about the hundreds of thousands of young people orphaned by COVID-19 in the U.S. alone, while Kyodo News reports on research in Japan documenting how acute brain syndrome following infection can be fatal for children. Lisa Riley Roche tells the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Eric Anderson writes that capitalism has been developed to exploit psychological vulnerability for profit. And Ludvig Weir and Gabriel Zucman highlight how the corporate profits shifted between countries for the purpose of tax avoidance approached a trillion dollars in 2019 (and likely soared past
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Mark Jacobson writes that we already have the technology needed to make a full transition to a clean energy economy – as long as we don’t allow fossil fuel interests to keep delaying the necessary and inevitable. James Price and Steve Pye discuss
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Maura Hohman discusses how COVID-19 has been found to cause increased heart problems in young people (among other harm to health) – even as it’s being allowed to inflict that damage population-wide. And Lidia Morawska et al. examine how warnings about the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Jennifer Rigby report on the World Health Organization’s recognition that COVID-19 remains a global public health emergency even as far too many jurisdictions pretend otherwise. Andrew Nikiforuk examines the dangers of an evolving set of variants, while David Axe points
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Sara Berg discusses what U.S. doctors wish the public understood about COVID-19 – including the dangers of reinfection and the continued need for protective measures. Daniel Sarah Karatsik writes about the consequences of a decimated working class as movement organizing has to push
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Raywat Deondanan discusses some of the lessons which we should have taken from the COVID-19 pandemic (if it wasn’t being forcibly disappeared down a memory hole for all practical purposes). And Nicole Sarden and Bryan Yipp have found that the lasting effects of COVID
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Olha Puhach, Benjamin Meyer and Isabella Eckerle examine what we’ve learned about viral shedding from the COVID pandemic so far, while Bhanvi Satija reports on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ warning that we may face plenty more dangerous mutations if we keep pretending
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jessica Wildfire sets out the realities of COVID which are apparent to people on top of the flow of scientific news – even if they’re not being reflected in public policy or government messaging. Larissa Kruz reports on the strain being placed on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the looming prospect that COVID-19 infections will cause ongoing damage by exhausting people’s immunity, while Betsy Ladyzhets writes about the lack of benefits for people who are disabled as a result of long COVID. Andre Picard highlights how children have
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Rachel Aiello reports on Health Canada’s approval of COVID booster vaccines targeted at the Omicron variants. And Andrew Romano discusses the hope that the updated vaccines will result in a turning point in combating COVID – though getting enough people vaccinated to
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