Hub Podcasts Premier Ford's drug double-talk is cynical political theatre
Mar 4, 2026
Rudyard Griffiths, publisher of The Hub and essayist on Canadian foreign policy. He probes Mark Carney’s quick endorsement of the U.S. strike on Iran and asks whether principle was traded for short-term political gain. Short, pointed analysis on diplomacy, domestic politics, and the risks of principle-free pragmatism.
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Ford's Rhetoric Versus Provincial Funding
- Doug Ford's public opposition to harm reduction clashes with Ontario funding of crack and meth pipe distribution through OHRDP.
- The OHRDP distributed millions of smoking supplies between 2021–2025 despite little public evidence they improve health, per the province's 2023 review.
Ontario's Wild West Safer Supply Problem
- Ontario permits extensive Safer Supply prescribing that critics say fuels diversion and profiteering by clinics and pharmacies.
- Doctors reported patients receiving 30–50 hydromorphone pills daily and warned the system incentivizes high-volume, brief consultations to maximize billing.
London Doctors' Warning About Financial Abuse
- Two London addiction doctors, Janel Gracie and Brooke Noffel, sent a letter warning of financial abuse and rampant diversion in Safer Supply programs.
- They described pharmacies recruiting physicians, minimal assessments, and high physician profits, and received no provincial response.