Samantha Ginter

Harm Reduction Advocate & Lover of all humans

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

@DanWilliamsAB You've just signed death sentences for 100s of more Albertans. Disgusted would be an understatement. 💔

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

@MarkCherrington Yep, it's wild. There's multiple that refuse acceptance if in remand. Sorry sir, but your arrested, so no help for you. 🙄

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

@NooyLynette @MarkCherrington Yep, exactly.

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

@Patty__Wilson @DanWilliamsALTA Signed! 🖤

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

All of this.

This isn't a game of politics .. this is about our community members. Our family and friends.

We need access to all forms of support.
#BiasHasNoPlaceHere #PeopleBeforePolicies #HealthcareIsAHumanRight
#HarmReductionIsANecessity
#PWUDMatter #StigmaKills

[PattyWilson, she/her @Patty__Wilson]

@DanWilliamsALTA @DanWilliamsALTA Detox beds are great, but last I checked, they don’t save lives during an overdose. Calgarians know we need BOTH. 294 signatures say you're missing the point. Sign here: https://t.co/erl5czTdZI #ableg #yyccc #abpoli

[Elaine Hyshka @ehyshka]

It's not harm reduction OR addiction treatment, it is *both* plus housing, mental health care, liveable income, and treating people like human beings. #ableg

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

The only way to describe this is #SocialMurder

[The Breakdown @TheBreakdownAB]

Even the terminology here reflects the bias.

They’re not saying that they’re closing a Supervised Consumption Site (they are), they’re closing a “Drug Consumption Site”.

And if you don’t think that language shift is deliberate…

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli https://t.co/eqKpW66TT5

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

@TheBreakdownAB This is so incredibly sad and frustrating.

Many of us, including PWLLE, stood in front of council and the Mayor to share our deepest concerns with this decision a while back ..

Lives will be lost, and the blood will fall on #RedDeerCityCouncil and the #abgovernments hands.

[Marliss Taylor @MarlissT]

Hiring the unhoused: Edmonton’s solution - Meridian Source https://t.co/l43zZ1O2Y8

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

@guyfelicella @sheldonbailey Standing with you, my friend!

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

Being an activist saved my life after terrible #drugpolicies killed my partner.

[Bonnie Larson @BonnieraeLarson]

@ZoeDodd @DULFBC I’ve lost both my clinical and academic jobs due to advocacy. I will always still put the folks I care about & for first. As a physician, that’s my job. Medicine isn’t just complacent, it is *complicit* and *active* in attempting to silence the few who refuse to 🤐 .
@CMA_Docs

[guyfelicella🇨🇦🍁 @guyfelicella]

We need to talk about Alberta’s Minister of Mental Health & Addiction, @DanWilliamsALTA.

He and I both appeared as witnesses at yesterday’s federal Standing Committee on Health, and it was sure clear we are diametrically opposed in our opinions!

I asked the committee to acknowledge the toxic drug crisis — to agree that increasingly potent and unpredictable amounts of fentanyl, benzos & other chemicals in the drug supply are the cause of the crisis, so they can debate solutions from a shared understanding of the issue.

He insisted it’s a crisis of addiction. He didn’t even mention fentanyl in his opening statement, but he did talk about the oxycodone epidemic in the 90s. (How could he not talk about fentanyl?)

It’s DEFINITELY NOT an addiction crisis in BC, since:
➡️ rates of addiction have been going DOWN
➡️ While deaths have been going UP in lockstep with increasing adulterants in the drug supply
(See graphs below)

But maybe it’s different in Alberta? He said there’s lots of evidence, though he brought none to show the committee 🤔

But what I really want to highlight is his odd, paternalistic approach.

First he admitted he has never worked on the frontlines and has no lived experience. He said he’s a policymaker: “I get to decide how to respond to WHAT IS AN ADDICTION CRISIS…”

He repeatedly told the committee that HE will do what HE thinks is best, eg:
“I oppose safe supply”
“I need an off-ramp out of addiction”
“I will meet people where they’re at and bring them to a spot where they can have an opportunity at recovery”

He disagrees with every expert, clinician and scientist who says toxic drugs are the cause, he disagrees with peer-reviewed research that supports prescribed alternatives, and he insists he’s not an ideologue, that his beliefs are grounded in evidence (that he didn’t bring).

He repeatedly demanded the committee have a “serious adult conversation” about the “addiction crisis.”

😮

I gotta say, it all left me a bit perplexed about who’s making the decisions - and how he’s making them - in the province next door 👀

#ToxicDrugCrisis #CANpoli #HarmReduction #Recovery #AllTheTools #HESA

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

@nenshi Actually, its ~2050, the #'s you provided are specifically opioid related. #SafeSupply #Decrim, #SCS, #LowBarrierScienceBasedTreatmentCenters, #PostTreatmentSupport, #AffordableHousing, #SupportiveHousing, #LowBarrierCounselling #EquitableHealthcare - these would reduce deaths!

[The Progress Report @ProgressAlberta]

Natalie Loveless, the associate dean of equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Alberta, has resigned from that position over the violent sweep by police of a peaceful anti-genocide protest in the U of A quad.

[karen ward @kwardvancouver]

At 33: 25, listen to @CoreyRanger of @HRNA_AIIRM in this nuanced and serious discussion of a policy decision and its consequences, situated in context beyond mere drug policy but our political economy as a whole

#Decrim2Recrim #bcpoli

https://t.co/TUmEvHooIk

[Cynthia Nixon @CynthiaNixon]

Dr. Jill Biden, the UN estimates that two mothers are killed every hour in Gaza. On this Mother’s Day, we call on you as mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers and as humans to use your voice and your power

⁦@FLOTUS
#AllEyesOnRafah
#PermanentCeasefireNow
#Artists4Ceasefire

[KokumSarah @creeation72]

We already knew this. Nice of them to drive it home through violence. At least we know where we stand @UAlberta , which incidentally is on Papaschase Cree territory, illegally surrendered.

[Samantha Ginter @SGinter29]

@ABDanielleSmith This is such a fear mongering post .. As if you're so niave to think our youth aren't already using the toxic drug supply. Youth need information that could help keep them or their friends safe! ... FACTS not FEAR. #HarmReductionIsLifeSaving