Canada doesn’t confine its dangerous and inhumane “health” policies to the realm of euthanasia.
asserted
Canada → confine → euthanasia
A look at the world of “harm reduction” — radical policies that encourage, rather than discourage, drug use — shows how deeply our neighbor to the north has sunk into a crisis of both morality and public health.
asserted
neighbor → encourage → morality
This month, the Canadian federal government will start supplying paper straws to prisoners in correctional facilities across the nation — to encourage “safer snorting.”
asserted
government → start → snorting
The straws are “intended for inhaling substances in powdered form or inhaling vapor from heated substances,” a staff memo from Corrections Canada explained.
asserted
memo → intend → Canada
How, one might ask, could a change of straw material make using jailhouse coke or heroin any “safer”?
uncertain
using → ask → coke
Simple: They’ll “reduce harm” by preventing cuts to the inner nostril that metal or plastic straws can cause — cuts that spread hepatitis B and C and other dangerous diseases.
asserted
that → reduce → B
The same memo publicized plans to hand out foil strips specially designed for “safer smoking” of drugs like meth and crack, along with drug-testing kits meant to help prisoners confirm their cocaine isn’t contaminated with fentanyl or tranq.
asserted
cocaine → publicize → fentanyl
Once again, the True North makes American experiments with lax drug policies — from NYC’s “safe injection” sites to Oregon’s now-recalled hard-drug-decriminalization Measure 110 — look like rank amateurism.
asserted
experiments → make → amateurism
Making sure that addicts can access and use drugs anywhere, at any time, is a form of radical compassion that’s rooted in a drive toward some undefined standard of “equity.”
asserted
that → make → equity
And any criticism of that is nothing but “irresponsible populist nonsense” (as Carolyn Bennett, then Canada’s Mental Health and Addictions Minister, said in 2022).
asserted
Bennett → say → 2022
But Canada keeps pushing the boundaries farther than ever, not just in prisons but also on the streets.
asserted
Canada → push → streets
Last month a federal judge in British Columbia stayed the convictions of two drug traffickers because, she said, they were acting not for profit but out of compassion.
asserted
they → stay → compassion
The two dealers operated an addict-led group that claimed to provide a “safe supply” of drugs to their customers — that is, unadulterated meth, cocaine and heroin — by buying illicit substances and testing them to ensure they weren’t cut with fentanyl or other adulterants.
asserted
they → operate → fentanyl
That was a “selfless” act, per Justice Catherine Murray, whose ruling declared that addicts have a “human right” to access their drugs of choice, never mind the laws on the books.
asserted
addicts → declare → books
In June, a group of academics with close links to Canada’s public-school systems created an agitprop document for kids as young as kindergartners emphasizing “anti-stigma” drug education (in other words, that it’s not OK to say using drugs is not OK).
asserted
using → create → drugs
In February, Health Minister Marjorie Michel dodged when asked if Canadian 16-year-olds are allowed to shoot up in a government-approved “safe injection” site; another official soon confirmed that yes, they certainly are.
asserted
they → dodge → site
Canada’s MySafe program (the irony!) offers biometrically accessible vending machines where addicts can get their prescribed doses of pharma-grade hydromorphone, an actual opioid better known by its trade name Dilaudid.
asserted
addicts → offer → name
All this just three years after British Columbia piloted a full drug-decriminalization program in 2023.
asserted
Columbia → pilot → 2023
Compassion means ensuring that addicts get treatment, even if it’s involuntary; it means building a broader community that supports their recovery.
asserted
that → mean → recovery
It doesn’t mean giving them continual green lights, no matter where they are (even in prison!), to keep destroying their physical and mental health.
And don’t non-addicts deserve compassionate treatment from their government, too?
asserted
addicts → mean → government
Like safe streets, as opposed to no-go-zones haunted by zombied-out users: Surely that counts as a form of compassion.
asserted
that → oppose → compassion
Families reunited once addiction is overcome sure sounds compassionate to me.
asserted
addiction → reunite → me
It’s worth noting that in January, British Columbia let its official three-year experiment with drug decriminalization end.
asserted
experiment → ’ → decriminalization
The pilot program legalized the personal possession of drugs like heroin and cocaine, and for a time permitted possession in public (that element was quickly walked back, in 2024).
asserted
element → legalize → 2024
But the pilot “hasn’t delivered the results that we hoped for,” BC Health Minister Josie Osborne admitted, as she offered the usual mumbles of half-apology.
asserted
she → deliver → apology
Here’s what it did deliver: In 2025, the program’s final full year, BC saw close to 2,000 unregulated drug deaths, a sky-high death rate of 32 per 100,000.
asserted
BC → ’ → 100,000
Every month in 2025 saw an average of four or more unregulated drug deaths every single day.
asserted
month → see → deaths
British Columbia has reluctantly learned a lesson — one that judges like Catherine Murray are trying to unwind.
asserted
judges → learn → Murray
Whether Canada broadly will learn it remains to be seen.
asserted
learn → learn → it
One thing is certain: Compassion has nothing to do with policies like these.
asserted
Compassion → do → these
The Aporia
