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The ongoing overdose and drug toxicity crisis in North America has contributed momentum to the emergence of safer supply prescribing and programs in Canada as a means of providing an alternative to the highly volatile unregulated drug supply. The implementation and scale-up of safer supply have been met with a vocal reaction on the part of news media commentators, conservative politicians, recovery industry representatives, and some prominent addiction medicine physicians. This reaction has largely converged around several narratives, based on unsubstantiated claims and anecdotal evidence, alleging that safer supply programs are generating a "new opioid epidemic", reflecting an emerging alignment among key institutional and political actors. Employing situational analysis method, and drawing on the policy studies and social science scholarship on moral panics, this essay examines news media coverage from January to July 2023, bringing this into dialogue with other existing empirical sources on safer supply (e.g. Coroner's reports, program evaluations, debates among experts in medical journals). We employ eight previously established criteria delineating moral panics to critically appraise public dialogue regarding safer supply, diverted medication, and claims of increased youth initiation to drug use and youth overdose. In detailing the emergence of a moral panic regarding safer supply, we trace historic continuities with earlier drug scares in Canadian history mobilized as tools of racialized poverty governance, as well as previous backlashes towards healthcare interventions for people who use drugs (PWUD). The essay assesses the claims of moral entrepreneurs against the current landscape of opioid use, diversion, and overdose among youth, notes the key role played by medical expertise in this and previous moral panics, and identifies what the convergence of these narratives materialize for PWUD and healthcare access, as well as the broader policy responses such narratives activate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence is a widespread issue, with victims suffering emotional and physical harm and severe cases resulting in homicide. Media presentation of these extreme instances may affect public opinion and related policies. The current study considered the portrayal of domestic homicides in Canadian print news, using articles published in the Vancouver Sun between 2004 and 2015. A content analysis shows domestic homicides were portrayed as isolated incidents and perpetuated the notions of victim blaming and offender excusing, rather than as connected to a pattern of domestic violence. This portrayal may affect how domestic violence and homicides are perceived and addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an extensive literature comparing the politics, sociology and economics of the United States and Canada, but very little work comparing the role that public intellectuals play in the space of public opinion and how their ideas are received in both nations simultaneously. Noam Chomsky provides a theoretically useful example of an established academic and public intellectual whose reputation is deeply contested in both countries. Our comparative case study offers leverage to contribute to debates on the sociology of knowledge, reputations, intellectuals, and the politics of professors using data from six major Canadian and American newspapers from 1995-2009 and an innovative coding of media portrayal. Earlier work has demonstrated that Chomsky is discussed as a public intellectual more prominently in Canada than in the United States (McLaughlin and Townsley in Canadian Review of Sociology, 48(4):341-368, 2011). Here we examine the comparative construction of a 'public intellectual' reputation in the context of significant political change. We document small differences between the Canadian and American receptions of Chomsky, show change in the patterns of portrayal and number of publications over time, and offer an analysis of differences between political attacks and consecrations. We demonstrate more engagement with Chomsky's political view in Canada than in the United States, a rise in Chomsky's fame post 9/11, and illustrate clear political patterns in attempts to marginalize him. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:The purpose of this study is to investigate how Canadian print news frames infertility.Background:The way the media frames issues can affect the public’s interpretation of those issues. News coverage often frames health issues as highly alarming with few coping strategies, which tends to elicit fear, worry and avoidance, but no increase in issue knowledge or personal efficacy regarding the health issue. The present study will investigate the framing of infertility-related print news with respect to alarm, coping, medicalisation, genderisation, and identified causes/solutions.Methods:A content analysis was conducted on Canadian print news articles that contained the key word ‘infertility’ in the year 2012 (N= 157). Two independent raters analysed the articles using a pre-determined coding strategy.Results:Just over half of the articles employed alarm frames, and the vast majority of these met the criteria for categorisation as high alarm. The most commonly cited cause of infertility was delayed childbearing and the most frequently presented way to cope with infertility was in vitro fertilisation. Infertility was most often constructed as a women’s issue.Conclusion:Canadian print news media tends to present an alarming portrayal of infertility that adheres to a biomedical perspective that often conflates infertility with involuntary childlessness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The use of recreational cannabis by adults was legalized in Canada in 2018 (The Cannabis Act, 17 October 2018). This change in drug policy indirectly opened the doors to broader uses, including those for health-related conditions. As a first step towards understanding ethical, legal, and social shifts on this landscape, we examined messaging surrounding medical cannabis and health in Canadian news media before and after legalization.Methods: We retrieved news articles about medical cannabis and health from Canadian sources (2010-2020). Deductive and inductive content analytic approaches were applied to code eligible articles for both a priori ethical, legal, social, and issues, and emergent themes. Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U tests were used to test for thematic changes pre- and post-legalization.Results: Two hundred and sixteen (216) articles met inclusion criteria. Analysis yielded three themes and eight subthemes, comprising 4931 coded references. The a priori theme of Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (access, benefits/risks of medical cannabis, public engagement, and conflicts of interest) dominated news media coverage across the decade (coded in 99% of articles). The emergent theme of Medical Applications (therapeutic use of cannabis, consumption considerations, comparisons to other drug and treatment options) was coded in 86% of articles; Resource Issues (research and education) in 50%. We found little discourse on ethics issues specific to exceptional populations. Coverage on aspects of access declined significantly post-legalization.Conclusion: Capturing the push of Canadian news coverage of medical cannabis is a powerful means of understanding how public opinions on the subject are shaped and then, by extension, inform public policy for well-being and healthcare. Continued examination of these issues, public consultation, engagement with diverse populations such as people with disabilities and neurologic and mental health conditions, and integration of diverse cultural views into the policy discourse are critical steps for future research and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]