drugs, drug use, pain, suicide, stigma, abuse, abstinence, housing, work, medical profession, trucking, drug tests, pain clinic, fentanyl, drug poisoning, chronic pain, medical stigma Kelly Allard drugs, drug use, pain, suicide, stigma, abuse, abstinence, housing, work, medical profession, trucking, drug tests, pain clinic, fentanyl, drug poisoning, chronic pain, medical stigma Kelly Allard

Code Orange: the Drug User You Didn't Notice

Trigger Warning: This piece mentions chronic pain, long-term opioid use, overdose, drug poisoning, near-death experiences, medical stigma, and suicide. Many people think in order to get housing, people should be abstinent… It’s not about the drugs; it’s about the pain…You cannot expect anybody to reduce or stop their substance use until their pain is addressed.

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health care, Alberta health care, er, er wait times Kelly Allard health care, Alberta health care, er, er wait times Kelly Allard

The warning was written in British blood. Alberta read it and said "hold my beer."

In England, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine felt compelled to publish a study showing 1,300 excess deaths a month from long A&E waits. In Scotland and Wales…No royal college there has felt the need to count bodies and sound the alarm like that. And here in Alberta? …we have Dr. Paul Parks. A past president of our own medical association, touring the province, telling stories, begging for change.

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