so, this is bad.

what did the authorities and public officials in charge of things do after issuing this alert?

https://towardtheheart.com/alerts#vch-fh-drug-alert-vancouver-burnaby

they did nothing, which is a dereliction of duty which went unnoticed because We Expect Nothing from them: that’s us, lowering the bar.

it is the legislated duty of regional Medical Health Officers to inform the public about this emergency generally and about an unusual public health hazard like this fake Xanax in particular, and they don’t. They communicate within the health system, which has been profoundly ineffective [gestures to 17,000 dead people and pro-harm reactionary backlash as evidence], choosing to obey, choosing to be part of the government’s comms strategy, choosing to say nothing when speaking up could have changed everything.

Like on July 31, 2025:

the Medical Health Officers of the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions could have called a press conference for 2pm. The notice to media would be something like this

Medical Health Officers to provide update and measures in response to counterfeit drug detected in lower mainland

Making a big deal about this immediately tells everyone that it’s serious, as opposed to the nothing that they actually do, acting as though counterfeit Xanax bars containing an unknown benzodiazepine and a synthetic cannabinoid are sold on the unregulated drug market FOR NO REASON AT ALL, like the emergency has been 9 years of unconnected random events

we’re heartbroken so heartbroken too heartbroken to do our jobs

what if they did? imagine the press conference:

Thank you all for coming on such short notice. We need to talk about the drug alert issued earlier today and in particular we’re hoping to reach young people, because we know that youth consume pills that look like prescribed medication but in this case and in fact more and more often, they’re counterfeit, pressed pills sold on the unregulated drug market, of unknown composition and potency. we know that the kids like to drop a xanny and chill.

this is no xanny. we cannot identify the benzodiazapine. this is the era of synthetic drugs which means that when the government schedules a drug or a precursor, chemists simply move molecules around and boom its a novel psychoactive substance, a new drug nobody has ever seen that therefore isn’t prohibited by any law.

so what would happen if you thought you were taking a xanny but it was a fake xanny that was really an unknown benzodiazepine and ADB-BUTINACA, a synthetic cannabinoid? as the alert describes: nausea, vomiting, hallucinations and decreased level of consciousness. you would be seeing demons coming out from the walls and you’d be puking but also unable to move so you’d be screaming in your mind but silent while suffocating on your own vomit is how fucked up you would be.

yes one could infer that someone had consumed this drug and is in medical care. the drug was acquired in Vancouver and checked in Burnaby.

we issued this alert because we know that when counterfeit pills are produced, more than one pill is produced.

[the assembled reporters stare at the doctors in silent horror.]

reporter: b-b-but doctor. lots of people use Xanax that isn’t prescribed to them. what are you telling them to do?

Medical Health Officer: um check your drugs

reporter: FUCKEN WHAT

reporter 2: doctor, why couldn’t people go to a community clinic to get a no-hassle prescription, or buy a limited amount from a pharmacy?

Medical Health Officer: well that would be safe supply, can’t have that