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Is BC fueling more drug addiction?
Do BC’s illicit drug policies fuel more addiction?
Dr. Julian Somers discusses this and the need to treat people in home communities to stop migration.
6 June 2023
Dr. Julian Somers, Clinical Psychologist & Professor of Health Sciences. Learn about proven pathways to wellness from addiction, mental illness and homelessness. Positive action leads to positive changes.
Exposing Harmful Addiction Policies with Research
Watch Dr. Somers powerful address at a public event Oct. 26/22 in Vancouver. His inspiring talk emphasizes evidence that “deaths of despair” are preventable, and shows how current government policies increase suffering and death.
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“‘Safe supply’ is a misnomer. It is not treatment and it is an unproven intervention.”
Addictions expert and UBC clinician Dr. Launette Rieb, The Globe and Mail, Nov. 20, 2022
A Lifetime of Clinical Practice and Research
Dr. Somers has been caring for patients and families for over three decades, serving in hospitals in the US and Canada and in community settings from inner cities to Canada’s north. His research is based on lessons learned delivering care, including interventions designed by people who experience addictions and mental illness. Dr. Somers’ team has helped hundreds of people deemed the “hardest to house” to establish new beginnings.
This website offers hope, proven solutions, peer-reviewed research and an opportunity for the public to get involved. Demand that our governments provide proven forms of long-term assistance to people and communities struggling with addiction. Not all Provinces are making toxic decisions. While BC is ill-advisedly expanding the supply of addictive drugs, Alberta has chosen to address the conditions that create demand for drugs.
Results show that as BC’s addiction crisis spirals further out of control, deaths and other drug-related crises have steadily declined in Alberta. Communities are healing and other governments are choosing the same proven path. Of major concern, the BC government is supporting the growth of companies led by current and former public health officials, and censoring research showing the harms of current policies. Public dialogue and evidence are needed now more than ever!
Join us. Get involved if you agree.
Dr. Somers has been caring for patients and families for over three decades, serving in hospitals in the US and Canada and in community settings from inner cities to Canada’s north. His research is based on lessons learned delivering care, including interventions designed by people who experience addictions and mental illness. Dr. Somers’ team has helped hundreds of people deemed the “hardest to house” to establish new beginnings.
This website offers hope, proven solutions, peer-reviewed research and an opportunity for the public to get involved. Demand that our governments provide proven forms of long-term assistance to people and communities struggling with addiction. Not all Provinces are making toxic decisions. While BC is ill-advisedly expanding the supply of addictive drugs, Alberta has chosen to address the conditions that create demand for drugs.
Results show that as BC’s addiction crisis spirals further out of control, deaths and other drug-related crises have steadily declined in Alberta. Communities are healing and other governments are choosing the same proven path. Of major concern, the BC government is supporting the growth of companies led by current and former public health officials, and censoring research showing the harms of current policies. Public dialogue and evidence are needed now more than ever!
Join us. Get involved if you agree.
Blog and Media
Radio Interviews
Treatment must have social reintegration
Simon Fraser University health sciences professor Julian Somers, who also attended the rally, said addiction treatment needs to come with social reintegration.
31 May 2023
Newspaper Interview
Poor-Quality Research in Drug Policy
“Safe Supply” drug advocates rely on poor quality, biased research that lacks any concrete evidence of success, say doctors.
21 May 2023
Radio Interviews
Prescribed drugs created deaths and lawsuits
The prescribed, supposedly “safe” opioid drug Oxycontin left many fatalities and sparked global lawsuits. Yet we offer more harmful drugs called “safe supply”.
Giving people with addictions, most of whom also struggle with mental illness additional opioids is not recommended. This is a clever marketing term invented by the BC Center for Substance Use, lacking any substantive research or even costed out for taxpayers, says Dr. Julian Somers.
17 May 2023
Radio Interviews
Recovery housing preferred by drug users
Recovery housing is the top choice of those struggling with addictions, mental health and homelessness, says Dr. Julian Somers on the CFAX radio show.
16 May 2023
Radio Interviews
Audit Reveals Dollars and Dysfunction
The recent BC Housing Forensic Audit reveals both the outrageous billions of dollars being spent and the failure of the current, dysfunctional SRO approach that benefits those influencing addiction, mental health and homelessness policy, Dr Julian Somers notes on the Mike Smyth CKNW show.
13 May 2023