Nicole Luongo @nicolemluongo Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Ft. Contributions from @Steve_Wakeman @GFZampini @badacademic @DopefiendPhD @highway_dave and many others.

International Journal of Drug Policy

@ijdrugpolicy

1 year

🚨Special Section Alert🚨 Negotiating tensions in research and activism as people who use drugs, Volume 98. In this special section we celebrate people who use drugs. Edited by @pwidpride & @nicolemluongo . Link:

0

21

40

1

7

24

Last Seen Profiles

@researcher_cvs

@KabilanVai

@DianeSmith47312

@lam680913563874

@Michael61783690

@neubergerberman

@reginaduarte

@JJ7N6X

@DieselDogg84

@_BinanceJapan

@Jairocaba97

@JoseJDiaz9

@ALandEsports

@anneverden

@montymonty5

@AlersJanet94747

@sanguin_carter

@LouiseSharp23

@mochai_tao

@Junaidorakzai83

@cercoiltuovolto

@Gabydlaa_

@Mikaela_sissy

@NicolVnc

@kyndrawest

@Liz_Love_Laugh_

@youarenabi

@SevierCounty

@matefo_m

@JohnASmolin

@drraisirfan

@iseunghoes

@Currencys_

@t_rinosaur

@Pure_Divinity

@SummaHealth

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Rant incoming. This morning I finished a run and encountered a man in distress. He was collapsed in a doorway and hypothermic. He couldn’t communicate beyond gutteral moans and, eventually, the word ‘help.’ 1/

36

228

1K

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

This is why I have no patience for girlboss feminism or the myth that woman are inherently, homogeneously vulnerable to men. It’s nonsense. These are not static categories, and no person moves through the world a priori a victim or a perpetrator. 11/11

16

53

1K

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Early yesterday morning, a man shot at least four homeless people, three fatally, over six hours. The killings were targeted. Yesterday evening, residents of Kitsilano told @kennedystewart and the Vancouver city council why a proposed supportive housing development 1/

1

274

710

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

I’m still disoriented. Disdain for marginalized people is common place and something I witness every day. This felt different, though. Calling 911 when required is hardly controversial. Even the staunchest conservative will agree that services exist for this exact purpose… 8/

3

14

667

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@AuntiesBlocc This woman is describing domestic violence and sexual assault. She was doubly violated when she went for help and was handcuffed instead, and now everyone laughing at her is violating her again. Listen to the content of her speech.

1

28

659

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Analyses of power, privilege, and access to resources cannot rely on a single or even a couple social locations. In this context, white womanhood and its potential for violence was fully engaged. It could have ended fatally. 10/

3

24

641

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@WitchWoodIand De-prioritizing therapy/medical intervention would trouble the myth of self mastery. It would highlight interconnectedness and the need for communal care. Collectivism is, of course, antithetical to neoliberal modes of governance (tl;dnr: the status quo serves the status quo).

5

55

634

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

@Phil_Lewis_ Wells Fargo pisses on people every day. This is very on brand for them, just more explicit than usual.

6

31

579

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

…while the staunchest leftists, though not thrilled about it, would have likely done the same. One ‘bigger picture’ point I’ll make, on the heels of international women’s day, is that identities are multifaceted. 9/

1

6

434

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

The tl;dnr of this story is that I did find a phone, did call an ambulance, and did help the paramedic lift the guy inside. He was not able to be cooperative, to say the least, and I’m concerned about what may happen once his immediate concerns are mitigated. 7/

2

5

438

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

I was and still am gobsmacked. This woman was mid-20s, white, and dressed well with carefully applied makeup. In her words, the man was not her problem. She was going to work. 5/

2

7

416

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

She. Said. No. No affect. No further inquiry. Just a small sneer, a raised eyebrow, a tightening of her purse, and a “No,” followed by - shrug - “I don’t really care.” 4/

10

6

396

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

When I was homeless on the DTES, I didn’t care if I lived or died. Every waking moment was driven by the need to consume; to forget. The suffering, born of abandonment and severe, intractable grief, obliterated anything resembling choice. I will never truly ‘recover.’ 1/

6

58

359

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

I eventually processed what she was saying. I ranted and raved and hope she felt bad but wouldn’t hedge my bets. As I was flailing about, a car of men drove by. They catcalled her, and one screamed that she was pretty. Her “thank you” was the only time she displayed emotion. 6/

3

345

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

This is pretty standard. Living near the DTES means that breath checks, cop watch, and general community care are part of daily life. They’re nothing to tweet about. That said, today was an anomaly. 2/

1

3

328

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

I have used drugs to- elicit and mitigate pleasure; elicit and mitigate pain; stimulate; sedate; focus; distract; self-regulate; dysregulate; connect; isolate; achieve my goals; blow my world up entirely. None of these is inherently immoral, but prohibition is. 6 yrs.

3

55

338

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

I eventually concluded the man needed medical attention. There was nothing I could do to improve his situation, and he was too cold to act alone. Having just ran, I also didn’t have a phone. A young woman was waiting for a bus nearby, and I jogged over to use hers. 3/

2

309

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Thanks ⁦ @TorontoStar ⁩ for respectfully rejecting ⁦ @PierrePoilievre ⁩ arrogance and ignorance about the DTES. This neighborhood, and it’s people, routinely saved my life. What we need is meaningful policy intervention, not political parachuting.

Pierre Poilievre called it ‘hell on earth.’ Here’s what people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside...

Scotty, who asked to only be identified by his first name, poses for a photograph on the corner where he was monitoring for overdoses in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver on Friday.

apple.news

2

65

257

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

I don’t yet see myself as a political subject, nor do I understand how I came to be there. I just know, as the youth kept saying, that it Hurts, it Hurts, it Hurts. 8/8

0

11

237

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@Srirachachau Googling a potential therapist and seeing they have a social media ~presence~ automatically disqualifies them. It may not be a technically ethics violation but implies a lot about them (none of it good, though I realize I’m speaking for myself).

20

2

227

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

..was unwelcome in ‘their’ neighborhood. Simultaneously, @VanFireRescue issued an immediate order to remove all tents and structures from Hastings street. This comes after residents successfully lobbied to end @VancouverPD cruel and discriminatory street sweeps. 2/

1

35

242

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

No drug policy reform advocate claims that drug use has no risk. We merely point out that drug prohibition (that is, the twin policy models of criminalization and medicalization) exacerbates said risk. This is impossible to refute empirically even if our values don’t align.

10

76

241

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

These events are connected. Homicidal violence is the logical endpoint of violent policies. Yet most people denounce the former while uncritically endorsing, or at least disengaging from, the latter. I walk through the downtown eastside and I’m 19,20,21 y/o again. 7/

1

34

218

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@tweetz_oclock I’m well versed in collective apathy, but to actively interfere with someone’s wellness so flagrantly and with such disdain was…unnerving.

4

216

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

The International Journal of Drug Policy special issue, “Nothing about us, without us’: Negotiating the personal and professional as activists and academics who use drugs” is now available online.

3

48

212

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Predictably, the area has become more crowded since. This is what happens when people have nowhere to go. Also yesterday, I spent about an hour with an unhoused youth after finding her curled in a ball, writhing in pain, outside the bank at the Main/Pender intersection. 3/

1

20

196

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Watching people experiencing this used as unwitting pawns by electoral candidates and their supporters has been devastating. I fear what is to come. I’m also reminded that humanity is not found on the ballot box. Sometimes, the best and only thing one can do is extend 2/

2

14

191

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

She was responsive, albeit too dopesick to stand. A security guard had kicked her. In these instances, there is almost nothing useful to do. First responders often make the problem worse. Even if detox on demand existed (which it absolutely does not), 4/

1

15

191

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Why is the @VancouverPD party line, ‘that’s above my pay grade’ when asked where a homeless person is supposed to go when evicted from their tent? I’ve observed it at every decampment. Something something banality of evil.

16

45

193

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

…a literal hand, reminding people they/we exist, and that someone - anyone - sees us. #vanpoli

3

6

169

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

It is outrageous that the @VancouverPD can use taxpayer dollars to commission propaganda that is so methodologically flawed it constitutes fiction, only for media outlets (ahem, @GlobalBC ) to regurgitate it uncritically. Embarrassing top to bottom.

Rob Shaw

@RobShaw_BC

2 years

. @VancouverPD tomorrow will release a report it commissioned into spending on city's social safety net - a summary of which leaked this week. I've read both now, and let me summarize them for you: Misleading fiction. My latest @TheOrcaBC @Glacier_Media

41

256

574

5

49

175

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

…the street based drug supply is adulterated w/ fent, benzos, and tranquilizers; alleviating withdrawal is a painful and arduous process. People who survive the wait list are discharged back onto the street. It is difficult to regularly buy dope for ppl. 5/

1

12

167

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

For those working in drug policy and related fields. I have put together two resources, one on legal regulation and another a critical terminology guide. With them, a few observations from my time working with @CANdrugpolicy 1/

2

46

171

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@AshleyGWinter It’s crucial to not counter blanket statements with more of them. Wellbutrin may mitigate some people’s suffering. It may exacerbate others’ (inc. mine). Psych meds enable some people to survive but aren’t substitutes for addressing systemic inequalities. All of this can be true.

4

7

153

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

I say this not because I’m anti-dope, but b/c every time I run to the nearest ATM, withdraw $20, and half-carry someone to a dealer, I know I’m delaying the inevitable. I won’t be around when the effects wear off. I wonder who will find them next. 6/

1

8

159

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

When I was homeless on the DTES I volunteered, wrote poetry, and enrolled in free learning courses at the @VPL . I also drank constantly, stole, and was arrested for assault. Motivations are complex, made all the more so by complex circumstances. No one is a caricature.

Andrea Woo | 鄔瑞楓

@AndreaWoo

1 year

I lost my wallet a few days ago. Figured it fell out of my pocket when I was walking home one night. A huge pain, immediately annoyed with myself, a brief search was futile, cancelled my cards. Couple days later at 6 a.m., someone buzzes my apartment.

133

520

6K

0

25

163

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Big love to @momsstoptheharm today. My family blamed me solely and unequivocally for my drug use. Their solution was abandonment. Moms who could have retreated from public life (and would’ve been justified in doing so) choosing to fight the good fight instead means a lot.

6

35

164

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

By tonight, 6 British Columbia families will forever experience Xmas as the anniversary of their loved one’s drug poisoning death.

0

37

152

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

An email stating the death of QEII may be ‘difficult or traumatizing,’ followed by an extension of support from the office of diversity, equity, and inclusion, followed by a land acknowledgment, is a perfect encapsulation of Canadian myth-making.

3

27

147

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

8 months

@Nonprofit_PhD Say nothing, do nothing of substance, and reproduce the status quo. Perfect distillation of academia.

0

9

139

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Is JJ Bean ok? Is this parody? A Portlandia episode? Blink if you need help.

8

3

123

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

I found medical sociology during a time in my life when I only knew myself as sick. I had cycled through psychiatric institutions, addiction tx centres, and homeless shelters for years, and all I heard from doctors was that my chronic, incurable brain diseases were at fault. 1/

6

22

117

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

I spoke w/ @rumneeek @pressprogress about kids 'buying drugs from vending machines.' A thread on safe supply, ethics in journalism, and the contradictions embedded in drug policy processes. 1/several.

No, BC Liberals: Kids in British Columbia Can’t Buy Drugs From ‘Vending Machines’

Days ahead of decriminalization, anxieties surrounding drugs are being stoked by those who oppose safe supply

pressprogress.ca

2

72

120

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

@IwriteOK I happen to know a thing or two about this, and the long and short answer is: maybe! But, definitions of psychosis, and meanings ppl attach to it, are so diverse and variable that it’s not productive to try to have this convo on Twitter.

2

0

107

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@JulesGraham70s As the academics say, ‘there’s a lot to unpack there.’

0

108

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

3 years

Alternate headline: Man who systematically eroded public trust in safe consumption sites opens for-profit safe consumption site.

Leader in Alberta's war against opioid overdoses jumps to treating mental illness with psychedelics

calgaryherald.com

4

35

110

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

7 months

Jeremy and Eris possess more integrity, compassion, and courage in their middle fingers than do all of BC’s politicians combined. As @BCUnitedCaucus traffics in histrionics and disinformation, and @bcndp is utterly devoid of moral fortitude, @DULFBC shows us more is possible.

VANDU

@VANDUpeople

7 months

Statement of the VANDU Board of Directors regarding DULF:

9

190

302

3

42

116

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

@KenSimCity You’re currently facilitating multiple human rights violations.

27

2

110

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

7 months

One week after the @DULFBC arrests, B.C’s Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe recommends issuing drugs without prescription to stop overdoses. From @CanadianPress :

B.C. Coroner’s death panel recommends issuing drugs without prescription to stop overdoses

About 225,000 people in B.C. use unregulated substances but fewer than 5,000 people a month have prescriptions to receive safe-supply drugs, report says

www.theglobeandmail.com

2

47

112

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

5 months

In a moment of profound grief/rage, it is difficult to feel happy. However, today’s ruling is a material win for PWUD in BC, particularly those whose risk of unregulated drug fatality is compounded by policing practices that target poverty, homelessness, and racialized groups.

Canadian Drug Policy Coalition

@CANdrugpolicy

5 months

NEW: Today the BC Supreme Court granted a temporary injunction to @HRNA_AIIRM , suspending BC’s Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act on the grounds that it would cause irreparable harm to people at risk of injury and death amid a public health crisis.

26

82

168

8

26

105

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

8 months

Safe supply hysteria is being fueled by a handful of grifter physicians who have a direct material interest in keeping people sick.

Euan Thomson

@elsthomson

8 months

Every week, another unsubstantiated hit piece on safe supply lands in National Post Opinion featuring a recyclable roster of addiction physicians. Who are they, and what is their deal?

6

84

155

1

28

96

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@CostaLaw Well, thanks for reinforcing everything I’ve said about the perils of essentialism.

3

0

79

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Earlier I watched 12+ @CUPEBC staff accompanied by almost as many @VancouverPD standing outside a single tent. They were being paid for a stat holiday. There has also been a swell of community support and donations for displaced folks 1/

Garth Mullins

@garthmullins

1 year

It just keeps going. #StopTheSweeps

19

24

70

4

28

82

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@CostaLaw Lol. She loved the catcalls. If you think that undermines my argument about intersections of identity, and how they are not additive (and how the power they afford us varies by context), that’s a) reductive as hell; and b) on you. My points were about more than this instance.

2

0

77

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Leadership at @WomenDoRecover and @Last_Door knowingly harboured a predator for years. Recently, they’ve tried to suspend a Facebook group where dozens of women share their stories as ‘hate speech.’ The addiction tx industry needs urgent oversight.

Survivors, former staff say recovery homes ignored years of reports about employee charged with...

Two substance-use recovery facilities in New Westminster, B.C., ignored multiple reports that an employee was preying on vulnerable women clients for more than a decade before he was charged with...

www.cbc.ca

3

57

81

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Reminder that harm reduction is radical a social justice movement rooted in collective care and mutual aid. It mitigates the harms of state neglect (inc. prohibitionist drug policies), not reabsorbs them under different labels.

Alex Kral

@alexhkral

2 years

Substance use disorder treatment is an important harm reduction modality.

10

13

105

2

15

77

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@monctonSJlawyer This is an outrageously bad series of conclusions to arrive at. My god.

1

63

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Man. If only the outrage about John Tory’s affair was directed at his policies.

2

17

76

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

From @NSS_CoP , a primer on #safesupply . Evidence shows that providing pharmaceutical grade alternatives to the illegal drug supply has several health and social benefits. We need to urgently expand these programs to meet the needs of diverse consumers.

Prescribed Alternatives Programs: Emerging Evidence

Download a formatted PDF of this document Download a October 2023 poster summarizing this document

www.substanceusehealth.ca

4

34

77

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Is addiction a disease? Who decides? How, why, and to what ends has the ‘brain disease model of addiction’ proliferated absent scientific consensus that ‘SUDs’ are even ‘real,’ let alone diseases of the brain. Join us Tues, May 23 @ 10-11 AM PST/1-2 PM EST to discuss. Link below

marginalutilite

@marginalutilite

1 year

Join the COVID X SU Data Collaborative for the next session of our #ConfrontingTheDrugWar series on 5/23, 1-2 PM EST, this 1 on the trenchant topic of deconstructing the disease model of addiction. How many times have you typed out "SUD" today? Register:

1

21

39

11

31

79

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

@ZivoAdam Incredibly disingenuous, verging on journalistic malpractice. You’ve completely misrepresented the objectives and practical realities of both OAT and safe supply vis a vis sources who have been roundly discredited.

1

8

75

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

“Kalicum said other reported effects include members feeling “safer and protected from overdose,” that they are involved in less crime, have less police interaction, and have improved mental and physical health.” ⁦ @DULFBC ⁩

“Everyone else is too afraid”: DULF’s unsanctioned compassion club

The Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) is running an ambitious, unsanctioned program that’s trying to remove people at high risk of poisoned drug death from the unregulated illicit supply.

www.straight.com

3

39

75

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

5 months

I have had a brutal ED since age 7. Anorexia and bulimia still dominate my daily life. They were precursors to what became ‘substance use disorders’ and, with that combo, forced hospitalizations culminating in trauma-induced psychosis and homelessness. A few observations:

The Tyee

@TheTyee

5 months

“Telus is not a leader in health care, they are a phone company.” B.C.’s Island Health has awarded a contract to Telus, a corporation the province took to court last year for health clinic extra-billing, to provide services to people with eating disorders.

17

114

169

5

19

74

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@ryanlcooper Tragic, and wholly preventable if drugs were legalized and regulated.

2

0

62

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Co-editing this with @pwidpride was an honour. I’m excited to have featured a mix of well established scholars and activists whose voices - and lives - are too often excluded from academia. You can find our editorial at: or DM me for a PDF.

5

29

69

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

11 months

The @UN woke up in 2023.

UN experts call for end to global ‘war on drugs’

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 23 June 2023 GENEVA (23 June 2023) – The international community must replace punishment with support and promote policies that respect,...

www.ohchr.org

2

32

68

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Homelessness is a category premised solely on absence. “The unhoused” are the only class defined by what they lack. As such, exclusion through social organization appears ‘natural’ and just. 1/

2

13

61

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@stefkaufman Not that I spend much time thinking about this, but since her conservatorship ended I’ve had mounting dread about inevitable changes in public perception. From day one the rhetoric has been about validating her sanity. We know how dangerous that is.

0

4

66

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

reliant on access to an infinite population of ‘sick’ people to treat. We must approach them with suspicion. Even the best doctors are conditioned to see us as problems to be solved. The war on drugs and drug users will end. 5/

2

3

69

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

6 months

Currently in the news: “Stranger assaults had plummeted months before Vancouver's 2022 election. Why didn't anyone know?” A reminder that the @VancouverPD have always informed policy making through sham reports that city council and the public uncritically accept. 1/

Spencer Powell

@Bambammon

6 months

And it looks worse the deeper it goes. The VPD won't explain why they withheld the data, Farnworth won't comment, Ken Sim is keeping mum. The police union endorsed ABC and ran the stranger attack story. There should be an investigation.

4

30

120

2

30

72

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@michelletandler Oh, and btw, I’m also a currently abstinent person who has chaotic/compulsive drug use habits when actively consuming: “THANKS HARM REDUCTION FOR SAVING MY LIFE.” There; now you have.

0

61

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@Twolfrecovery I have been abstinent from alcohol and illegal drugs for years. I support legalizing all regulating all illegal drugs. Why? Because prohibition causes addiction. It traumatizes, isolates, and, in my case, funneled me to for-profit treatment centres that disempowered me. 1/

3

2

60

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

And, history will not look kindly on the medical professionals who have decided that power, prestige, and institutional legitimacy usurp the tenets of patient care.

1

6

64

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

@LiciaCorbella @hudsonsbay Definitely in the top 10 abuses @hudsonsbay has carried out over the years. Possibly top 5.

3

2

63

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Med soci was more than an academic sub-field. It was political education; it was consciousness raising; it gave me the tools to critically interrogate the role that medicine plays in reproducing systemic oppressions. 2/

2

3

62

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@michelletandler You’re wildly out of touch and several decades behind. The positive efficacy of harm reduction on multiple outcome measures is irrefutable. The data is robust and interdisciplinary. I have no idea how one could, in 2022, make statements like these with a straight face.

0

58

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Striking about these # is that even if every person dying from drug poisoning is ‘addicted’ (they’re not) and needed treatment (they don’t), the 195 beds promised as a cornerstone of the @bcndp mental health and addiction budget wouldn’t match a single month’s fatalities.

The Tyee

@TheTyee

1 year

A total of 211 people in British Columbia were killed by toxic drug poisonings the first month of 2023 — almost seven people dying each day. @moirawyton has the updates from today’s coroners report. #ToxicDrugCrisis #BCPoli #VanPoli

5

18

15

1

17

63

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

11 months

Spoke to @dustbobgod for @georgiastraight about being in a three-way fight. Ft. @garthmullins @LeeLeeBeeLeeLee

Safe supply advocates fight a war on two fronts | Georgia Straight

Safe supply advocates are defending the concept of safe supply from right-wing attacks while battling against the BC government’s milquetoast interpretation of it.

www.straight.com

2

25

61

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Despite what Twitter may suggest, there is significant public support for #safesupply programs when they are described clearly and accurately.

Bernie Pauly (she/her)

@BerniePauly

1 year

Is there public support for safer supply programs? @HMorrisedmonton & team found that the answer is yes.

2

26

67

1

18

62

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

9 months

A few yrs ago I was unemployed (and unemployable) elsewhere. I found my way to @VANDUpeople . In addition to a regular crack kit making shift (RIP Rob), I was shown community outside the walls of an institution. 25yrs of forcing drug policy fwd through any means necessary. Donate.

VANDU

@VANDUpeople

9 months

🚩 VANDU CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF ACTIVISM To commemorate VANDU's history and continuing tradition of democratic poor peoples' organizing, we're asking our supporters to donate $25 for our 25th anniversary. ✊ NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US ❤️2️⃣5️⃣ To donate:

6

142

259

0

17

64

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

@kennedystewart Am I having a stroke

0

60

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Yet, amidst debates about safe supply, drug decriminalization, and involuntary tx, I am so glad I did. Medicine will not protect us. Psychiatry and addiction medicine, in particular, are deeply invested in maintaining the status quo. They are existentially and materially…4/

1

6

59

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

Finally, while decrim is a first and important step, the only policy framework that will restore dignity, autonomy, and access to full societal participation to drug users is a legal, regulated supply of all drugs with all methods of consumption available. 6/

1

12

61

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@TheLancet @StanfordMed @KeithNHumphreys @TheLancet @StanfordMed are devastatingly out of touch. This is about a toxic, poisoned drug supply- not ‘opioids,’ and certainly not ‘addiction.’ Those involved need to have a reckoning with themselves. You’ve built careers off of misleading the public.

4

19

55

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

3 years

@DrugPolicyOrg Hi! I work for the Canadian drug policy coalition and have just launched a project to advance legal regulation on all currently illegal drugs. Also a long time “compulsive” drug user with a background in medical sociology who gleans inspiration from Mad + critical drug studies.

0

2

55

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@UCPCaucus You selected the psychiatrists and addiction physicians who are loudly against safe supply because they personally profit from the drug war via their affiliation w/ abstinence based treatment centres. Incredibly narrow range of ‘expertise’ you’ll be hearing from. Bleak stuff.

1

6

56

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

8 months

@DouglasDavisRN This attitude is why people are afraid to seek ‘healthcare’ when in distress. You have the power to declare me incompetent, document on my medical records that I’m lying or ‘difficult,’ and incarcerate me.

0

2

59

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Youth are not included as a demographic that is at risk of drug poisoning, even though they very much are...A parent’s worst nightmare is probably not their kid using safe drugs in lieu of toxic drugs, it is drug poisoning. Progressive policies do not initiate youth into drug use

3

13

54

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

More damning reporting from @moirawyton about @Last_Door @WomenDoRecover and its director of community development @Giuseppe_View (who, let's remember, has cozied up with the far right and @KevinFalcon @eleanorsturko to lobby against harm reduction).

B.C. recovery home staff tried to remove social media posts about assault allegations against...

The New Westminster addiction recovery facility that employed a man charged with assaulting vulnerable women attempted to prevent survivors and community members from speaking publicly, according to...

www.cbc.ca

3

34

60

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@clairezagorski Don’t assume or tell patients they have a SUD, even if it appears on their medical records. Many have been ascribed with this label without ever having consented to it or having been given alternate paradigms through which to view ourselves.

1

5

53

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

@artcgreen It’s literally just people sitting inside a cafe, weirdo.

3

0

52

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

8 months

I spoke to @ashleyjoannou at @CanadianPress about a province-wide failure to introduce safe inhalation sites and inhalation options for safe supply. 65% of overdose deaths in 2023 came after smoking drugs, compared to 15% involving injection.

Overdoses from smoking toxic drugs outpace B.C. prevention sites

VANCOUVER - Nearly two-thirds of the overdose deaths in British Columbia this year came after smoking illicit drugs, yet only 40 per cent of the supervised consumption sites in the

www.thecanadianpressnews.ca

6

31

57

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Hi @PeterMeiszner @KenSimCity , taxpayer here I am profoundly offended that 1/5 of our city’s operating budget goes to criminalizing poverty vs social programs. I am equally offended that ppl who are systematically oppressed are being told to thank u for crumbs Who do I contact?

Dan Fumano

@fumano

1 year

Vancouver council sends signal to non-profit social service providers seeking money from the city: watch your mouth. Hate speech towards public officials is a real problem. I think it’s debatable whether comments cited today in council constitute abuse.

21

27

58

0

13

55

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

11 months

We wouldn’t need bylaws if safe consumption sites were readily available; We wouldn’t need SCS if drugs were safe and legally regulated + accompanied by housing, voluntary addiction treatment, and access to education, housing, and social supports; We are playing whack a mole.

Richard Zussman

@richardzussman

11 months

NEW - Premier David Eby says the province is looking at legislation in the fall to address hard drug use in parks and public safety. BC United has been calling on the province to bring the legislature back to address the concern before school is out for the summer. #bcpoli

39

15

65

3

17

55

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

1 year

Since ‘excited delirium’ is being evoked in the Coroner’s inquest into the @VancouverPD killing of Myles Gray: The term was coined in 1985 to explain a series of 7 deaths among people who used cocaine, all of whom were forcibly restrained and five of whom died in police custody.

Michelle Cyca

@michellecyca

1 year

wild that there is a made-up condition that supposedly only affects people while they are being assaulted by police, which can be used to claim that the assault didn’t cause their death.

15

438

1K

1

17

52

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

So much of this resonates with my experience working in drug policy as a person w/ ‘lived experience’ (of addiction, homelessness, disability, and Madness). When your identities are a priori disposable, the rules of engagement change. 1/

G Peters 👩🏻‍🦽@mssinenomine.bsky.social

@mssinenomine

2 years

I apologize for the cryptic nature of this thread but I need to say certain things without saying certain things. This is a thread about respect and the way I think of it as a disabled poor person vs the way the respectable people do.

11

54

218

1

11

51

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@RS_McNeil As a former ‘subject’ (while homeless), this doesn’t sit well with me. Your future participants are likely impoverished and engaging without full insight into the ramifications of doing so. For example, I was frequently recruited at the shelter I stayed at. Give money. Lots.

2

0

51

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@AndreaWoo @AndreaWoo were you asked to use the term ‘opioid overdose crisis’? If yes, this announcement will likely be re. more addiction tx. Reminder to onlookers that we need to address the toxic drug supply, not opioid use, and the answer is decrim, safe supply, and legal regulation.

4

1

45

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@JenStDen Inevitable conclusion of forced, abject poverty mixed with staggering wealth inequalities, terrible public health comms, terrible public health infrastructure, and a host of other systemic issues. The government is to blame for creating these conditions.

1

3

49

Nicole Luongo

@nicolemluongo

2 years

@WalkerWitch94 I asked her to call after her first ‘no.’ She said she didn’t care - exact words.

5

1

46