Gillian Kolla, PhD @GillianKolla Twitter profile

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

6 years

Speaking about the opioid crisis on CBC's Power & Politics

Power & Politics

@PnPCBC

6 years

Moss Park Overdose Prevention Site's @gilliankolla says placing restrictions on how prescription opioids are marketed probably won't be effective in addressing the opioid crisis. Here's why. #pnpcbc #cdnpoli

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Last Seen Profiles

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

I’ve rarely seen a tweet that so well represents the inequities in the COVID pandemic response. Let’s try to imagine a society that had rapid testing when entering schools, hospitals and long term care, for a moment, rather than at hockey games.

Chris Johnston

@reporterchris

3 years

The @MapleLeafs have introduced COVID-19 Rapid Antigen testing for everyone entering the arena on game nights. Smooth process, and another layer to the health and safety protocols. ✅

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

I was listening to CBC radio as I eat lunch, and a bunch of men were calling in to explain why women don't need access to free emergency menstrual products at work, and now I'm going to have to change my afternoon plans to go dismantle the patriarchy because I can't even...

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

To be more plain about it: the 5 provinces with the highest COVID death rate are all run by conservative governments.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

@DFisman I was telling my 8year old about how it’s looking promising for vaccines for kids for Nov. Her response: “Vaccination for kids is going to be so easy too! There are no kids who are anti-vaxxers, we all just want to get the vaccine to make COVID go away so we can stay in school”

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

Big personal news: I defended my PhD today!! Defence was all online and even celebrations respected social distancing. I’m so grateful to everyone who supported me along the way, especially all of my amazing mentors in the harm reduction and academic community here in Toronto.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

A reminder that the Toronto Police budget for 2022 will be $1.1 BILLION dollars. It is a choice to excessively fund police while taking away funding from community services and goods like libraries, community centers, programs for kids, and parks.

Toronto Star

@TorontoStar

2 years

#Opinion : The city’s public library has been told to submit a budget with zero per cent spending increase at a time when inflation is over six per cent, writes @GraphicMatt

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

But Meghan should give a shout-out to whatever ultra-absorbent menstrual products she is using. Wearing a white dress in front of literally billions of people 2 days after giving birth is a super gutsy move that, having given birth, I cannot even fathom.

The Royal Family

@RoyalFamily

5 years

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were photographed earlier today with their newborn son at Windsor Castle. The baby has been named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

If we judge a society by how it treats it’s most vulnerable members, what does this say about us in Toronto?

Katherine Ward

@KWardTV

3 years

Police tearing down tents, leading some away in handcuffs

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

This is the tweet from the Minister of Health responsible for pulling funding from Overdose Prevention Sites during a public health crisis killing 3 Ontarians a day. We are in bizarro land. My head (and my heart) hurts.

Christine Elliott

@celliottability

5 years

We are giving the people of Newmarket—Aurora choice and convenience when buying beer and wine to enjoy responsibly. Ontarians should be able to support local businesses by buying beer and wine from convenience stores like Andrew’s Convenience.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

I really can’t emphasize this enough- it is a massively bad idea to give police access to personal health information. We should all be outraged by this breach of our rights by @fordnation

Ontario takes 'extraordinary step' to give police list of all COVID-19 patients

A civil liberties group is raising concerns after the Ontario government took the "extraordinary step" to release a database to police with a list of everyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in...

toronto.ctvnews.ca

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

Let's call this what it is: it's racist NIMBYism at it's worst.

Why one Scarborough neighbourhood wants no part of an Indigenous healing lodge | CBC News

Residents in southwest Scarborough say an Indigenous healing lodge planned for their neighbourhood is a bad fit for the area, and is being forced on their community without proper consultation. The...

www.cbc.ca

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

Adam, do you or Derek have any substantive critiques of my published, peer-reviewed work? Putting aside the weird & icky way that Derek frames his hit piece as a "love letter", do the two of you have actual critiques besides just throwing around insults like school-yard bullies?

Adam Zivo

@ZivoAdam

1 month

I appreciate @DerekFinkle taking the time to blow apart @GillianKolla 's shoddy work. Truly, her writing demonstrates how some schools will give out PhDs to just about anyone these days.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

These cuts will be devastating. One issue is that public health works to PREVENT infectious disease & PREVENT health crises from occurring. When public health is working well, you don't even notice it! But when it is not working well, it can be disastrous.

Joe Cressy

@joe_cressy

5 years

The Province just announced a $1 billion cut to Toronto Public Health over the next 10 years, effective immediately. Affected programs will include disease prevention, water quality, immunizations, overdose prevention, food safety, student nutrition, & more. 1/2

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

My heart hurts today, my face is sore from trying to hold back all the tears. Another lovely, vibrant person laid to rest so young, due to bad drug policy, stigma towards people who use substances & a “treatment” system that fails too often, too spectacularly. 💔

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

9 months

You should just go read the paper Adam, it’s available for free. And find out what clients actually say about safer supply programs. A thread recapping the main points, because some people can’t be bothered to do the barest minimum and read the damn study…🧵

Adam Zivo

@ZivoAdam

9 months

“We interviewed some drug users about whether they liked our program where they got free addictive drugs. They said good things about the program. This is very serious research with no issues of bias which objectively shows our program works.”

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

Uhm, this announcement seems to include a pretty big suspension of the rights of citizens in interactions with police. This will predictably result in police targeting racialized and marginalized community members. This is horrifying.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

9 months

I have one question for everyone advocating for ending prescribed safer supply programs - what happens to the people who have been stabilized on a pharmaceutical supply of medications if these programs end? They end up back taking unregulated fentanyl, at high risk of OD death 🧵

The Globe and Mail

@globeandmail

9 months

We must end the unwitnessed safe supply of opioids

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

Our new paper on the impacts of overdose-related grief & loss is out. There is not much attention being paid to how grief & trauma from unrelenting overdose losses are impacting people who use drugs. So much gratitude for everyone on our team who supported this work❤️

Kathleen Kenny

@KathleenKenny

2 years

Our new paper looks at the cumulative burden of overdose events and grief/loss among people who use drugs. In it we consider how repeated witnessing of overdoses, experiencing own overdoses and fatal losses to overdose impact everyday life and functioning.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 months

Very excited for the release of this paper, mapping the emergence of a moral panic around safer supply prescribing. Led by @liam_michaud , our team uses established criteria for moral panics to explore recent rhetoric around safer supply, diversion and youth drug use 🧵

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

If the @cityoftoronto just gave each person they evicted from the encampments $33,000, they would have $2,750 each month for a year to spend on rent and food and other necessities and they wouldn’t be homeless anymore. Instead they violently evicted them.

Matt Elliott

@GraphicMatt

3 years

The city by its own post-eviction media releases counted 23 people in the encampment at Trinity at time of eviction, 26 in Alexandra Park, 11 at Lamport Stadium, so about 60 people evicted in total, for $2 million in combined costs. Cost per person of about $33,000.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

Ontario, pay attention. This is an emergency field hospital that has been erected next to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto because this wave of COVID is expected to overwhelm hospital capacity. THINGS ARE NOT OKAY.

David Juurlink

@DavidJuurlink

3 years

Please enjoy this live look at the field hospital @fordnation is building at Sunnybrook while simultaneously planning to reopen nail salons and tattoo shops

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

And even though I could care less about this holdover from feudalism, I'll just point this out since we clearly do not spend enough time talking about the realities of bodies that menstruate and give birth...

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

25 days

In an illustration of the hypocrisy inherent in Ontario drug policy, Premier Ford announces expanded access to a legal, regulated psychoactive substance (alcohol) that causes significant health & social harm, after harsh & uninformed comments on decriminalization last week

Colin D'Mello | Global News

@ColinDMello

25 days

We're at a gas station in Etobicoke where the Premier is set to make an announcement on wider access beer and wine this year. #onpoli

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

@PaulySigh @bunny_goo I’m willing to bet good money that the Venn diagram of men with opinions on free menstrual products and men who would lose their shit if we did this because all the blood is “gross” would be a perfect circle...

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 months

There is a concerted attack on evidence-based harm reduction interventions like the distribution of sterile drug use equipment. Decades of research has shown that distribution of sterile drug use equipment reduces HIV and hepatitis transmission, saving our health system $ - a 🧵

Scott Moe

@PremierScottMoe

3 months

There is no such thing as safe use of illicit drugs. Yesterday at the SARM Convention I spoke to how our government will focus all of our resources and opportunities on providing a recovery oriented system of care.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 months

Great new study in @TheLancetPH , showing a significant decrease in fatal overdoses in the Toronto neighbourhoods surrounding supervised injection sites - a 67 per cent reduction in overdose deaths in neighbourhoods within 500 metres of the sites

Overdose mortality incidence and supervised consumption services in Toronto, Canada: an ecological...

We found that the period during which SCS were implemented in Toronto was associated with a reduced overdose mortality in surrounding neighbourhoods. The magnitude of this inverse association...

www.thelancet.com

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 months

A nice example of disinformation on safer supply in action. A strong study did in fact show safer supply significantly reduced both overdose & all-cause mortality. It was peer-reviewed & published in one of the most rigorous medical journals. This hand-waving doesn’t negate that.

Adam Zivo

@ZivoAdam

2 months

The aggregate data shows that safer supply leads to no statistically significant reductions in morality — but researchers unethically reframed this data to deceptively inflate positive results. You can read my essay on this here: .

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 months

One of the biggest drug policy myths out there is that policing and drug enforcement (like drug busts) are an effective way to address drug related issues. It's not - in fact, the opposite is actually true! This article does a great job of explaining why:

Police drug seizures increase risk of overdose: BC experts

There's a growing body of evidence that finds fatal overdoses from toxic drugs increase after police departments seize illicit drugs.

vancouver.citynews.ca

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 year

The closing of supervised injection sites by the Alberta government is not just cruel because it exposes people to higher risk of death. It's brutal for staff, who now have to respond to overdoses in uncontrolled circumstances. It is SO MUCH harder to respond to unwitnessed ODs🧵

Elaine Hyshka

@ehyshka

1 year

This team used to operate a busy supervised consumption site at their community centre. Then it was shut down. Now they respond to ODs in and around their building everyday instead 👇🏻 #ableg #yegdt

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 months

An overlooked aspects of the drug toxicity overdose crisis has been the emotional impacts of overdose on front-line harm reduction workers. Our new paper in @ijdrugpolicy explores the devastating toll from overdose on the wellbeing of workers, and strategies to support them 🧵

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

The team at the Street Health Overdose Prevention Site has been doing absolutely amazing work for 4 years now ❤️. They’ve stayed open despite being without provincial funding since 2019. You can support them here:

Street Health OPS

@StreetHealthOPS

2 years

Kicking at the darkness til it bleeds daylight as we celebrate the 4th birthday of our scrappy and love-filled OPS at Dundas and Sherbourne. Thanks to everyone who has made the site possible over the years, allowing us to reverse almost 250 overdoses since opening in 2018. ❤✊💉

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

The criminalization of homelessness thru ticketing has been going on for well over 20 years. I worked with youth experiencing homelessness in Montreal in the early 2000's & the worst tickets I saw were for "3 people sitting on a park bench made for 2" - given to all 3 people.

Emily Knox

@emilyjeanknox

3 years

The scale of this issue is staggering: researchers, including @MEveSylvestre and @celinebellot , found that nearly 40% of all tickets for bylaw infractions in Montreal are issued to people experiencing homelessness, yet they account for less than 1% of the population.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

Listening to @ZoeDodd kicking ass at her master’s defense exploring people’s experiences being mandated to drug treatment: “drug treatment has been one of the most effective tools at perpetuating the drug war’s narrative that drugs and the people who use them are inherently bad”.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 months

Adam, if you and the "six addiction physicians" who collaborated with you so convinced of your analysis, why not submit it for peer-review with @bmj_latest , rather than posting it on a niche blog?

Adam Zivo

@ZivoAdam

2 months

Nice try, Gillian, but the underlying data from that study actually showed that safer supply has a statistically insignificant impact on mortality. Unfortunately, the study authors, whose research ethics are as good as yours, cherry-picked their data to dramatically inflate

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 months

This weekend, well-respected physician Dr. @AndreaSereda was repeatedly harassed on X by a @nationalpost opinion columnist. @itsrobroberts is this type of harassment & bullying acceptable? Please step in & stop your writers from engaging in this type of targeted harassment. A 🧵

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

Today our team released a report on experiences of overdose among people who use drugs. What were experiences of healthcare after an OD like? Unfortunately, "they treat you with such disdain" sums it up. With @KathleenKenny @AMBayoumi @tkhorasheh @ZoeDodd

“They treat you with such disdain:” Experiences of overdose among people who inject drugs

A new report captures and explores people’s experience of overdose – what happened, where, and how others responded to help. Based on surveys with almost 250 people as well as in-depth interviews...

unityhealth.to

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

Of course they did.

CBC KW

@CBCKW891

3 years

Ontario government quietly disbands jail oversight boards

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

Because what all the bluster & hand-waving & insults is trying to obscure is that there is mounting evidence that safer supply reduces overdose death & improves health outcomes for the small number of people able to it:

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

Let's all be clear about why these freelance opinion writers keep insulting & harassing harm reduction researchers & workers on twitter and from the opinion pages. This is NOT actually about research or evidence on harm reduction, supervised consumption sites, or safer supply.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

Very excited for our paper on Safer Opioid Supply out today in @CMAJ , that found significant declines in emergency department visits, hospitalizations & healthcare costs (excluding primary care & medications). A thread on evidence for Safer Supply programs

Clinical outcomes and health care costs among people entering a safer opioid supply program in...

Background: London InterCommunity Health Centre (LIHC) launched a safer opioid supply (SOS) program in 2016, where clients are prescribed pharmaceutical opioids and provided with comprehensive health...

www.cmaj.ca

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

@Travisdhanraj Travis, this is a bad take. This is a protest against the eviction orders that the City has issued, while there are out of control variant outbreaks in shelters. Why aren’t journalists reporting on the uncontrolled COVID outbreaks happening in City shelters right now?

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

Cool cool. Looking forward to the announcement of the Minister of Thousands of People Homeless Every Night Across Canada (including over 7500 people in Toronto alone EVERY. NIGHT.)

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

When people say drug use is stigmatized, this is what they mean. Every type of harm reduction- from sterile needle distribution to overdose prevention sites- gets the same pushback. Because it's actually a pushback against providing care for people who use drugs, pure & simple

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

And to be clear - I think lowering the age for the AZ vaccine makes sense!! But right now we need targeted campaigns to get the vaccine to people most at risk - those working in childcare & warehouses & factories & other congregate settings. I'm worried this won't do that.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

9 months

This is a good example of misunderstanding data - while visits for opioid-related causes went up in London, visits among people actually receiving safer supply in the same city went DOWN significantly. This is the research that was published in @CMAJ last September (link next)

Brian Lilley

@brianlilley

9 months

@andreasereda Explain why London's opioid related ER visits are up five times what they were before your safe supply program started. Explain why deaths are up four times. This is higher than other public health units. The claim was your program would reduce ER visits and ODs.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

8 months

New piece on the evidence for safer supply programs published today, that also explores why the mounting body of research documenting the positive outcomes from safer supply programs are being ignored. @BerniePauly @UVic_CISUR

Counterpoint: The evidence shows that safer supply drug programs work

nationalpost.com

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

So, this is what COVID-response by a government in panic looks like. They screw up big on Friday, spend the weekend reversing & now a major policy chage on Sunday night to try to change the news cycle. This is the TOTAL OPPOSITE of an evidence-based, science-led response.

Cristina Tenaglia

@cristinaCTVnews

3 years

#BREAKING Ont. Min. of Health confirms: “I can confirm that based on current supply, Ontario will begin offering the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to individuals aged 40 and over at pharmacy & primary care settings across the province effective Tues.” #onpoli #cdnpoli #COVIDont

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

Very honoured to receive a Banting Fellowship from @CIHR_IRSC to continue to work with the amazing team at @UVic_CISUR . I'll be doing comparative research exploring the impacts of safer supply programs in both Ontario and BC. #BantingCanada

CISUR

@UVic_CISUR

3 years

“We hope this research will provide key information for policy-makers and service providers regarding possible scale-up of safer supply across Canada.” @gilliankolla on her #BantingCanada Fellowship.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 months

Very strong editorial from @TorontoStar today on the need to expand safer supply programs. Evidence in top medical journals shows these small, pilot programs have been saving the lives & improving the health of the people who’ve been able to access them

Star Editorial Board: The risks of ending safer supply drugs programs

If the programs are maintained and expanded, safer supply could ultimately help clients address other health issues.

www.thestar.com

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

This is part of an escalating campaign to demonize & scapegoat people who use drugs and unhoused people, to blame them for multiple social issues that have reached crisis levels. To try to garner support for jailing people & forced treatment, rather than providing housing & care.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

The reason Adam and Derek are so mad about our paper on moral panics is that we lay out how they are recycling these same tropes that are frequently part of drug scares. We are shining a light on what they are doing, because it's all been done before

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

A touching & completely heartbreaking piece in the Star this morning about the grief and trauma faced by frontline workers responding to the overdose crisis. We have to stop ignoring the huge need for support for people on the frontlines of this crisis.

Overdose prevention workers save thousands of lives, but who’s saving theirs?

In a job where the grief is non-stop, many workers — often on short-term contracts — are struggling to find help.

www.thestar.com

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 months

And 5 people are dying a day right next door in Alberta, which doesn't have decrim or safer supply & has been cutting back on harm reduction. THE PROBLEM IS THE TOXIC DRUG SUPPLY. This divisive BS needs to stop. We've never scaled up a proper response to this crisis ANYWHERE.

Pierre Poilievre

@PierrePoilievre

2 months

BREAKING: Today the Liberal speaker censored me for describing Trudeau's hard drug policy as wacko. 6 people dying from overdoses every day in BC is wacko. Kids playing next to used syringes is wacko. Nurses worried about breastfeeding after breathing in toxic drug fumes is

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

8 months

I don’t normally amplify this type of reprehensible behavior, but @nationalpost do you stand behind your columnist here? What has happened to journalistic ethics, that harassing vulnerable people accessing health services & slandering those who don’t want to talk to you is ok?

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

6 months

Over 20 published research studies & program evaluations have documented how safer supply programs save lives & improve the health of clients accessing them. Today, over 130 experts on substance use across Canada call on the government to rely on evidence, not misinformation.

HIV Legal Network

@HIVlegal

6 months

Amidst worsening drug poisoning crisis, Canada must show leadership to stop the deaths. Read the release here: Read the letter to government officials and see the list of signatories here:

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

For years people who use drugs have pointed out how harmful it is to have police attend overdose calls with paramedics. My own research shows that fear of police is a major factor causing people to hesitate to call for help when an OD occurs. This comic lays it out so well!

HIV Legal Network

@HIVlegal

4 years

COMIC: NO POLICE AT OVERDOSES Does the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act work as its intended? While overdoses are a medical emergency, police are often attending overdose scenes – with negative consequences for people who use drugs. See full comic here:

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

My paper on overdose response by harm reduction workers in community settings is out. It's bittersweet, as I can't stop thinking about the community members who worked with me on this study - notably Raffi Balian - and died from the overdose crisis. 1/n

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

This week, Canadian numbers for fatal opioid overdoses in 2020 were quietly released. Over 6,200 people died of opioid overdoses last year. This is a catastrophic 62% increase, a massive loss of life with so many loved ones left grieving these losses.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

9 months

That’s a lot of words for “I also skipped reading the methods section”

Adam Zivo

@ZivoAdam

9 months

I already read the paper, Gillian – and it's really shoddy. As I alluded to in my original tweet, the methodology here is highly questionable (and that's putting things charitably). You're evaluating a program by simply asking for participant testimonials. This would not

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 months

I just want to note how striking it is to have police so forcefully pushing back on the misinformation & moral panic about diversion of prescribed opioids (esp. safer supply) from some conservative politicians, freelancer opinion writers, and addiction medicine providers

BC Association of Chiefs of Police

@BCPoliceChiefs

2 months

Coroner data is clear – 7 people a day in BC are dying from toxic illicit drugs (primarily fentanyl), NOT diverted prescription medication. We need to focus on what is causing the most harm. @FionaWilsonVPD #factsmatter #evidencebased

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

9 months

In your review, you chose to exclude the published, peer reviewed evidence on safer supply & program evaluations reporting on outcomes. Why? Pointing out this massive methodological issue is not bullying, it's good science. And FWIW, I'm not the one calling people names here...

Dr. Julian Somers

@somerspsych

9 months

Hypocrisy Zealots responsible for PSAD/“Safe Supply” have no clue how to reduce dependence We raised this question in our review Rather than answering, the zealots simply urged media to lambaste our review Bullying works, until it doesn’t #CDNNews

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

It would be infinitely more effective if our governments just decriminalized people who use drugs and provided them with a regulated supply of drugs, instead of urging them not to die

Joanna Lavoie 🇨🇦🇺🇦

@JoannaLavoie

2 years

THIS JUST IN: Drug overdoses spike in #Toronto 's downtown east area as 'bad batch' circulates; People who use drugs urged to not consume alone and to carry naloxone. #DwtnEastTO #drugpoisoningcrisis @The519 @TOPublicHealth More here:

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

Just to be clear: Criminalization of drug use doesn’t work. It doesn’t work SO SPECTACULARLY that even the police now admit it. So, what are we going to do about this? Nothing. The plan is to do nothing different, except speak more openly about how it doesn’t work 🤯

HIV Legal Network

@HIVlegal

4 years

Minister @BillBlair : "For individuals who are addicted to these drugs, that's a medical malady that should be dealt with within the health system and not within the criminal justice system." Yet arrests and prosecutions continue... #cdnpoli #drugdecrim

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

We need to stop ignoring how punitive approaches like putting people in jail for drugs has been THE main policy approach for decades. And it's been a massive failure. Look at federal spending: 58% on enforcement and only 8% on harm reduction

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

By definition, people in prison are vulnerable to COVID - they live in congregate settings with no control over their ability to isolate or distance. This tweet from O’Toole is bad public health policy - there have been many deadly COVID outbreaks in prison. It’s also just cruel.

Erin O'Toole

@erinotoole

3 years

Not one criminal should be vaccinated ahead of any vulnerable Canadian or front line health worker.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

The overdose crisis is getting worse. Toronto Public Health issued an alert today: over the last 9 days, paramedics have responded to the highest number of OD deaths EVER. Yesterday, BC announced that June 2020 had the highest number of OD deaths EVER.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 months

The topic of safer supply has been very contentious, and it shouldn't be. A new scoping review published in @ijdrugpolicy found 24 publications reporting outcomes from safer supply programs; 17 were peer-reviewed scientific studies & 7 programs evaluations

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

Regular and necessary reminder - Doug Ford is responsible for massive cuts to the public health infrastructure in Ontario. He attempted to totally gut it. Just because we are now getting a lesson in the necessity of public health doesn't give him a pass.

Martin Regg Cohn: Doug Ford becomes the unlikely leader that his province needs

Doug Ford’s daily performance is so remarkable because it is so unexpected, so unlike the public persona he has cultivated throughout his public life, Martin Regg Cohn writes.

www.thestar.com

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

9 months

Yesterday, the 2nd evaluation of @HealthCentre 's Safer Opioid Supply Program was released. This program evaluation reports on surveys with SOS clients in 2022 and 2023, as a way to check-in on client outcomes & ensuring the program is meeting client needs

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

9 months

New peer-reviewed research study on Safer Supply out today, looking at health and social outcomes among Ontario safer supply clients. The title of the study pretty much sums it up: “I don't chase drugs as much anymore, and I'm not dead” Take a look here:

Rose Schmidt

@SchmidtRoseA

9 months

Our new paper describes the impact of SOS programs in Ontario on client-reported health and well-being, contributing to the growing body of evidence supporting the effectiveness of safer opioid supply initiatives.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

Sitting in the @cityoftoronto Board of Health meeting this morning, as speaker after speaker talks about the devastation the overdose crisis has caused, and how traumatizing it is to be responding on the front lines with no end in sight or support from the government.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

A reminder that there are close to 10,000 homeless people in @cityoftoronto EVERY DAY and they are dying at an alarming rate. Can someone please explain to me why there is no urgency to implement not just ambitious but emergency measures to address this crisis??? Maybe @JohnTory ?

Matt Elliott

@GraphicMatt

2 years

“We heard from municipalities that they aren’t ready to implement ambitious policies from the Task Force’s report right now.” Wow. It’s a huge housing crisis making the province unliveable for an entire generation. But, sure, take some extra time. No rush.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

It’s now 10 weeks into the pandemic. It took *10 weeks* and a court case for the City of Toronto to agree to physical distancing standards within the shelter system. Infuriating, and so completely predictable at the same time.

Canadian Civil Liberties Association

@cancivlib

4 years

The City of Toronto has finally committed to enforceable physical distancing standards across its shelter system that will protect the lives of Toronto’s most vulnerable population during this pandemic crisis.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

Today on International Overdose Awareness Day, Canada's busiest supervised consumption site will be forced to close by a vindictive Alberta provincial govt. This move tells you everything you need to know about the cruelty & apathy of the Canadian overdose response #ioad2020 1/

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 months

Safer supply significantly reduces overdose death - this study found a 61% reduction in overdose death among people receiving safer supply compared to people who don't. You should not be playing political football with people's lives during a crisis.

Conservative Party

@CPC_HQ

5 months

Despite rises in opioid-related deaths, the Liberal-NDP coalition continues to support government-funded hard drugs. Conservatives will ban hard drugs and support recovery. SIGN:

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

Imagine what the underfunded organizations who support all the people experiencing homelessness in this neighbourhood could do with $2500 a month. How many meals, pairs of socks and winter jackets they could provide. That's what supporting your community would look like.

CBC Toronto

@CBCToronto

4 years

Some Cabbagetown residents say they feel less safe in their community since the pandemic began. So they banded together, raised $2,500 and brought in private security to patrol their streets. But as @talricci explains, advocates say this is not the right solution.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 year

Dr. @jennbrasch hoping you can clarify your comments here. Do you have any evidence to back up this idea that "addiction" rates are rising due to the small amount of opioids prescribed in safer supply programs? In BC, diagnoses of opioid use disorder are declining since 2017.

Adam Zivo

@ZivoAdam

1 year

When prescription opioids are highly accessible, their use goes up. Increased usage leads to increased addiction, including escalation to harder drugs. We saw this already with the OxyContin crisis – and we're seeing it again with Canada's failed safer supply experiment.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

9 months

This week @andreasereda has been subject to vicious attacks on her credibility by two national columnists who seem determined to try to smear her with unfounded accusations. She's been calmly defending herself, but this feels like a targeted attempt to undermine her credibility🧵

Dr. Andrea Sereda

@andreasereda

9 months

I’m going to post more of Adam Zivo’s statements about me This isn’t because I want to be in a time consuming & emotionally draining altercation w an aggressive journalist It’s bc Mr. Zivo is trying to discredit Safe Supply by trying to discredit me This is their tactics

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 year

Very happy to have this addition to the evidence base on Safer Supply programs out. Our team examines the impacts of Safer Supply programs on injection practices, finding a decrease in fentanyl injection & injection frequency among Safer Supply clients

Impact of safer supply programs on injection practices: client and provider experiences in Ontario,...

Objectives Fentanyl has contributed to a sharp rise in the toxicity of the unregulated drug supply and fatal overdoses in Canada. It has also changed injection practices. Injection frequency has...

harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

It doesn't matter that the evidence for harm reduction programs is strong, or that experts pretty uniformly agree that we need both evidence-based harm reduction and evidence-based treatment programs. This false dichotomy between treatment and harm reduction is just that – false

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

This is obscene. Think of how many lives in long term care could have been saved if, instead of paying out shareholders, LTC “profits” had been invested in high levels of care & facility improvements, proper staffing levels with good wages & benefits, & infection control.

Dr. Amit Arya

@AmitAryaMD

3 years

Mike Harris got $3,500,000 for part-time board work over 18 yrs from Chartwell, a for-profit LTC corporation. Imagine if we invested in improving seniors' lives instead of rewarding executives for delivering profits to shareholders? It’s a question of priorities. #COVID19

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

New commentary out today in Addiction highlighting the need for scale-up of Safer Supply & an end to the criminalization of people who use drugs to address the overdose crisis in North America. With @TaraGomes @touesy @AddictionJrnl

Addressing the overdose crisis in North America with bold action

Addiction is an SSA journal publishing peer-reviewed research reports on pharmalogical and behavioural addictions spanning many different disciplines.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

@AmeliaLeckey Wow. Just. Wow. Given what I just read, I'm now eagerly anticipating the @TorontoStar editorial on the need for free menstrual products for members of the Canadian military who menstruate.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

Despite the continued evidence that @fordnation and @celliottability don’t care one bit about the devastation the overdose crisis has caused under their watch, I’m still stunned by this one:

Bhutila Karpoche

@BhutilaKarpoche

4 years

“NDP FOI shows no correspondence between health minister and top officials on opioid crisis this year” by @jackhauen at @QPbriefing .

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

What's actually ironic is that just a few years ago, we also had a moral panic about methadone clinics, that sounds exactly like the one right now on safer supply. Addiction treatment providers had to fight to ensure they could provide necessary care & treatment.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

13 people died of overdoses in Toronto in 4 days last week. This continued into the weekend, when we lost 2 community members I've have worked with for years. The reaction to this from our leaders? Total silence. They are ignoring this. It feels violent

Toronto had 13 suspected opioid overdose-related deaths over 5 days in May | CBC News

Toronto paramedics say they attended one of the worst clusters of suspected opioid overdose-related calls this week, with 13 deaths reported within five days.

www.cbc.ca

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

1 month

There is no one-size-fits all approach to addressing substance use in society and the overdose crisis driven by fentanyl has made this harder. We need a comprehensive spectrum of options for individuals, because they may need different supports & approaches at different moments.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

There is a lot of talk tonight about who is included in this 'tremendous group of experts' and how it is heavily skewed towards people who have been vocal in advocating against Safer Supply. It's disturbing that there is a total lack of actual expertise on safer supply here. A 🧵

United Conservative Caucus

@UCPCaucus

2 years

NEWS RELEASE: Safe supply committee to hear from tremendous group of experts "We will follow the evidence and use the information provided by North America's leading experts, not the radicals or the activists." Read more here: #ableg #abrecovery

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

New paper! "Practices of care among people who buy, use and sell drugs in community settings". We examine the practices of care that exist in communities of PWUD & explore how some people who sell drugs have been integrated into harm reduction programming

Practices of care among people who buy, use, and sell drugs in community settings - Harm Reduction...

Background Popular perception of people who sell drugs is negative, with drug selling framed as predatory and morally reprehensible. In contrast, people who use drugs (PWUD) often describe positive...

harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 months

Must-read article by local parents talking about their support for harm reduction & their local supervised consumption site. The rise of divisive & politicized rhetoric around harm reduction ignores how we have the tools available to care for & support ALL member of our community

National Post

@nationalpost

2 months

Counterpoint: As parents, we support harm reduction in our community

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

News cycles will move to watching all the 40-55 year olds frantically calling all the pharmacies tomorrow. And we we will stop hearing about the EXTREME inequities in the vaccine rollout so far & in the COVID response more generally (like the URGENT need for paid sick days!!)

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

4 years

New Canadian numbers on overdose deaths released today & it's devastating. There have been 1,628 opioid overdose deaths in JUST 3 MONTHS (April-June 2020). This is the highest quarterly count since national surveillance started in 2016.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 months

Some in media spend their time creating a moral panic about harm reduction programs like supervised injection sites & safer supply, despite strong evidence they save lives. But in Alberta, which banned safer supply & has closed supervised consumption sites, deaths are rising fast

Paige Parsons

@paigeeparsons

3 months

Last year in Edmonton, 302 homeless people died. That's up eight times what it was pre-pandemic (37 in 2019). It's part of an overall alarming increase in homeless deaths across Alberta (124 in 2019 to 787 in 2023).

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

My kid has COVID again & there’s NO kids Tylenol or Advil to be found ANYWHERE. Even as a pessimist, I didn’t have “no pain or fever control for children” on my societal-collapse bingo card. If this is the situation now, what’s winter (ie. cold and flu season) going to be like?

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

To begin working on permanent housing??? The current waitlist for permanent housing is 10+ years in Toronto. This would be a joke, if it weren’t so cruel.

City of Toronto

@cityoftoronto

3 years

If clients move into a shelter or hotel program, they can request to meet with an onsite housing worker to begin working on permanent housing.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

3 years

This attempt by @JohnTory to normalize the extremely violent and heavy-handed police action in a park yesterday must be opposed. Why were hundreds of police officers in riot gear deployed to evict of a handful of our most marginalized and vulnerable community members?

CP24

@CP24

3 years

Toronto mayor calls Trinity-Bellwoods Park encampment evictions carried out by dozens of police and security 'reasonable, firm but compassionate'

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

Major sign of how the public health response to the overdose crisis is stagnant & divorced from reality is that for 5 years now in BC, smoking is the mode of consumption associated with the most deaths. Yet we almost completely ignore harm reduction for people who smoke fentanyl.

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

5 years

New paper on assisted injection and overdose risk using data from Moss Park OPS when it was still unsanctioned in tents & trailer in the park. With amazing folks from @TorontoOPS incl. @KathleenKenny @ZoeDodd @LeighChappy @NickBoyce416 in @ijdrugpolicy

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Gillian Kolla, PhD

@GillianKolla

2 years

We have to confront the fact that when it comes to drug policy, stigma, disdain and a lack of respect for the lives & autonomy of people who use drugs frequently prevents scale-up of both evidence-informed and evidence-based interventions. This has to end.

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