As MD supporting Black, Indigenous, other POCs, esp. those who use drugs, those who are queer/trans/GNC, ppl exp. homelessness, sex workers, migrants with precarious immigration, many exp. mental health crises: I joined @DrsDefundPolice not only to demand end to the killings

I've been studying & working in healthcare for 10 years now. I've seen 911 called for wellness checks. I’ve seen police behavior in ERs & the streets. I’ve seen the impact of police presence on overdose calls. I’ve seen how policing is deeply embedded within our healthcare system

As a student, I sometimes remained an immobilized bystander and I've sometimes intervened to interrupt the violence that ensued following police presence. At request of clients, I’ve taken photos of injuries sustained by police brutality more times than I can count.

So its fair to say Ive been a witness to violence that results frm police involvement during mental health crises

& for every person killed by cops, there are hundreds more who experience physical/verbal/sexual violence & violence from arrest, imprisonment, detention&deportation

Beyond the acute mental health impacts of our carceral system, many ppl I work with have experienced signif. trauma in their lives & have PTSD due to structural violence.

But what we aren't talking enough about: PPL HAVE POOR HEALTH CONSEQUENCES BECAUSE OF POLICING & PRISONS

Many peoples lives are put in danger IF/WHEN they interact with police.

Yet these are the people we are told to call for protection & safety?

I've supported ppl as their bodies, spirits & minds try to recover from extreme distress they undoubtedly experience because of interactions with police.

But the impacts of the head injuries, broken bones and hearts turned to chronic pain and mental health issues are lifelong.

People aren't just being killed by police bullets. Suicide rates due to confinement to high rates of overdose deaths upon release from prisons & all the overdose deaths that may have been prevented if fear of police arrest/harassment didnt exist - are all a form of social murder.

This is why I'm joining so many others incl @BLM_TO to call for:

1. Immediate disarmament and demilitarization of Police Services

2. Immediate defunding of police budget with reallocation towards:

a) the creation of new community emergency services to support the mental health needs of Black, Indigenous, racialized, poor & other community members made vulnerable by structural violence

b) the creation of teams trained in de-escalation & crisis support who root their work in transformative trauma- and community-informed practices

3. Immediate removal of police in all schools & institutions of learning in GTA & beyond

4. Immediate decriminalization of drug use as another way to release police $ that can instead be used to address root causes of trauma in communities inclu. colonialism, racism, classism, patriarchy, homophobia & transphobia and to grow community responses to end overdose crisis

5. Decriminalize poverty by ending policing in transit and make public transit free

6. Decriminalization of sex workers, with retroactive decrim., release, and record expungement of all prostitution related offenses

7. Immediately revoke police access to ALL PHI

/end