IN NEWS - 2025
We have created this webpage as a hub for articles and news updates featuring our work and collaborations with our allies.
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On November 23 MSTH member Lorna Thomas wrote this letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail which was subsequently published November 29, 2025:
Re: "How opioid deaths are hollowing out the construction industry” (Globe and Mail Report on Business, Nov. 22): The research and storytelling are compelling, hammering home the economic and social impact of so many people in the trades dying preventable, substance-related deaths.
I hope in future reporting on this topic that you adhere to advice regarding language and stop using the word "addict." In Mindset: Reporting on Mental Health, it is stated:"As with any disease or disorder, putting the person ahead of the ailment should be routine. People are much more than their disease ... we should not label them alcoholics or addicts."
So for future articles, please use the phrase "people who use substances." It will help curb stigma.
Lorna Thomas Co-founder, Moms Stop The Harm
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November 22, 2025 - Labours Lost: How opioid deaths are hollowing out the construction industry: MSTH Co-Founder Lorna Thomas and Board Chair Traci Letts contribute to this November 22,2025 Globe and Mail article about the economic and social impact of the drug poisoning crisis on the trades.
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August 29, 2025 - Vikki Cartwright talks about enraged grief ahead of IOAD
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August 1, 2025 - Trades workers most impacted by toxic drug crisis
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April 24, 2025 - Part of Reach Out Chatham-Kent (R.O.C.K.) Mission’s outreach, the program is called Holding Hope. Created by Canadian non-profit Moms Stop the Harm and facilitated by those with lived experience, the group provides a safe space for support, connection and information.
R.O.C.K. Missions executive director Renee Geniole said Holding Hope is a welcome addition and will be held bi-weekly at 39 Richmond St. in Chatham.
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April 16, 2025 - Brandon Shaw was 15 years old when he was apprehended by police and taken to a secure holding facility to detox in Edmonton from opioids against his will. Mr. Shaw, who was in the facility for roughly 10 days, said children in the program were “treated like criminals” and weren’t provided with the proper supports, such as counselling. He remembers being assaulted by staff and placed in what was called a timeout room when he didn’t follow the rules.
“I came out of there just a better drug user, because all we did was just sit around and talk crap to each other, like glorifying our drug use,” said Mr. Shaw, now 30, who has not used street drugs for two years. “What I needed was compassion.”
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April 11, 2025 - Blaming and shaming has never worked. But neither has the policy of prohibition and criminalizing use of certain substances. Even if we credit this policy approach as intended to protect people from harmful substances, surely the evidence that the effect is just the opposite must be obvious by now. It is a disastrous policy approach as this tragedy exemplifies. We need to have serious conversations about alternatives and leave the language of “dope fiends” and “drug dens” in the history books where it belongs.
Perry Kendall - B.C. provincial health officer, 1999-2018
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April 5, 2025 - ‘I came out of there a better drug user’
Brandon Shaw was forced into treatment twice under Alberta’s Protection of Children Abusing Drugs program (PChAD), which allows legal guardians to order youth into detox for up to 15 days.
He said that mandated treatment only made things worse.
“I was a child who needed love and support, not to be roughed up or treated like a criminal,” he said. “When I went to this PChAD place, there was no extensive counseling … I was thrown in a room with a bunch of people who were just like me.
“I came out of there a better drug user. I came out of there more equipped, more prepared and with a chip on my shoulder.”
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March 1, 2025 - Dear editor, I am horrified but not surprised by the recent (and timely, ie – let’s show them we care, or better yet, let’s distract them from a really big issue currently in the news) announcement in regards to the plan to build two centres in the province to house those under pseudo arrest using the ironically named Compassionate Intervention Act, otherwise known as forced abstinence.
Our premier believes leaving those struggling with a substance use disorder without such help is heartless. I do agree, we need to help. It is our responsibility as members of the human race to do so.
The major problem with such help is in the data though. The number of deaths due to overdosing double for those leaving such treatment. I understand loved ones desperately grasping for any assistance available when faced with someone struggling. I, too, sent my son away for help against his wishes.
He was not ready and we ended up burying him.
People wanting help have difficulty getting access to the necessary supports as it is. Perhaps the $180 million could be used to supply housing and helping get basic needs met,
Studies have shown once housed a person substance use lessens. Perhaps the harm reduction supports, supports that have been proven to save lives, could be put back in place until people are ready for help as dead people don’t recover.
Will such intervention clean up the streets? Not much, as most 911 calls for a suspected overdose are to private homes.
Will families feel a sense of relief forcing a loved one into a program privately run with no standards? With what I have learned over the years, I wouldn’t.
Will our premier gain more votes? Yes, most likely from those supporting such evident lacking, ideological decisions at the cost of human rights being violated.
The crucial question is will less families be planning funerals? I wish I believed the answer to be yes, however I am sadly not hopeful.
Kym Porter
Medicine Hat
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February 18, 2025 - Note: Contents of this piece may evoke trauma among readers who have been involved with forced abstinence.
Scathing details of youth being held Angela Welz and her son Max shared their experiences losing Zoe to a drug poisoning just four months after her second admission to PChAD — Welz pleading that "before any more support is given to PChAD, a review should be conducted of the act and its policies.
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February 5, 2025 - J. Stewart, executive director of Moms Stop the Harm, a network of families affected by substance-use-related harms and deaths, said people shouldn't read too much into the recent decline in drug deaths.
"We're about nine years into this public health emergency and a couple months of data skewing in a particular direction — I don't think it's cause for anyone to celebrate at this particular point in time," said Stewart.
"These are actual human beings that are dying every single day," he said.
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January 9, 2025 - Operating hours were slashed in half at Red Deer, Alberta’s OPS as of Jan. 2, 2025 and anxiety has risen among clients, says a member of a group that supports harm reduction strategies. "It's gone from 24 hours to 12 hours, and people already have nowhere to go," said Samantha Ginter, with Moms Stop The Harm, a network of Canadian families impacted by substance-use-related harms and deaths.
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January 4, 2025 - As we welcome a new year, we reflect on the resilience, strength, and compassion that define our community. Together, we have navigated immense challenges, standing united in our commitment to advocate for better drug policies, honour those we have lost, and support families affected by the unpredictability of the illegal, unregulated drug supply fueling the toxic drug poisoning crisis.
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