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View Point: Drugs – Where we are at in Sault Ste. Marie

Sault Online

View Point: Drugs – Where we are at in Sault Ste. Marie

By Content Team July 7, 2021

by Peter Chow

In 2020, Ontario saw 2,426 opioid-related deaths, a 60.0% increase from 1,517 deaths in 2019.

By age, the largest increases were among those aged 25 to 44 (61.4% increase from 83 to 134 deaths monthly) and those aged 45 to 64 years (119.5% increase from 41 to 90 deaths monthly).

The Algoma region saw 53 opioid deaths in 2020, up from 17 in 2019. So far, in 2021, we are on track for over 60 opioid overdose deaths.

Sudbury’s per capita deaths by opioid is the highest in Ontario, with over 50 per 100,000, with North Bay, Thunder Bay, Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie close to, or over 40 deaths per 100,000.

There was a rise in the number of overdose deaths with stimulants and benzodiazepines involved in 2020.

The percentage of opioid-related deaths associated with stimulants, such as Crystal Meth or Cocaine, as a contributing factor, increased from 52.0% in 2019 to 60.5% in 2020

Approximately one-third of deaths also involved a benzodiazepine, such as Valium or Xanax.

Of the people who died of overdose in 2020, that were employed at the time they died, 30% were construction workers, more prevalent in this industry than any other. The nature of the industry can lead its workers down the path of addiction.

With workplace injuries not uncommon, prescription painkillers can often lead to drug dependence. The trouble really starts when the doctor cuts off the prescriptions. The addicted worker can’t get the pain killers anymore and that’s when they go to the street.

For those unfortunate people addicted to opiates, there are medicines that work to reduce the effects of withdrawal and reduce cravings – Suboxone, Methadone, and Naltrexone. These medications reduce mortality rates as they significantly reduce the chance of relapse and overdose. All three medicines substantially reduce the risk of dying from an overdose.

Until recently, Methadone was the primary drug prescribed for the treatment of opioid use disorder. However, the chance of an overdose with Methadone is 6 times higher than with Suboxone.

BC and Ontario have now made Suboxone (a combination of Buprenorphine and Naloxone), the primary recommended treatment for persons who have been abusing opioids for years, and it is on the provincial formularies, meaning those who qualify will receive the drug free of charge.

Other provinces will likely follow BC and Ontario.

Buprenorphine is a partial opiate agonist. It binds to the opioid receptors in the brain, relieving symptoms of withdrawal and cravings without producing a high.

The only purpose of the Naloxone in Suboxone is to prevent abuse of the drug by injection.

Suboxone is the safest of the opioid treatment medications. Suboxone is a pill (it goes under your tongue). It is now available as an injectable long-acting implant, but only in the US.

Methadone is used in the case of a severe addiction to opioids where Suboxone does not sufficiently relieve the symptoms of withdrawal. Methadone is a full opioid agonist, like Heroin. It binds to the opioid receptors in the brain, relieving symptoms of withdrawal and cravings.

In the most severe cases where persons on Methadone continue to relapse, pharmacy-grade Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) can be prescribed to prevent withdrawal and cravings.

In persons motivated to choose abstinence, Naltrexone can be used to manage cravings. Naltrexone blocks the brain cells’ opioid receptors and thus the euphoria from abusing drugs.

Revia and Apo-Naltrexone are the pill form of Naltrexone and must be taken daily. Vivitrol is the injectable form of Naltrexone which lasts one month. Vivitrol is currently not available in Canada and costs about $1,000 per shot in the US. However, physicians may apply to get Vivitrol under Health Canada’s Special Access Program.

Due to a loss of tolerance to opiates from using Naltrexone, there is a high risk of overdose if Naltrexone is discontinued and there is a return to opioid use. Yet surprisingly, these medications are severely underused.

Fewer than 10% of those addicted to opioids are on Suboxone, Methadone or Naltrexone. Bureaucratic restrictions keep doctors from widely prescribing Suboxone.

The Ontario Drug Benefit codes for Suboxone state that prescribers should complete an accredited course on opioid addiction and Buprenorphine treatment before prescribing.

The requirement that Methadone be doled out in person remains, even though evidence shows that allowing it to be taken home reduces subsequent hospitalizations.

Skittishness among non-addiction-specialist doctors limits the use of these treatments, as does a shortage of addiction specialists, especially in rural areas. We don’t have an addiction specialist in the Soo.

Supervised Injection Sites are clean indoor environments where people can use pre-obtained drugs with trained health professionals present to ensure safe drug consumption methods, respond in the event of an overdose, provide counseling and referrals to vital social services and treatment options and test drugs for any trace of Fentanyl.

Extensive research has shown Supervised Injection Sites reduce overdose deaths, increase addiction treatment uptake, and reduce social nuisance.

Although Supervised Injection Sites are not the sole answer to the opioid crisis, they are being set up by Canadian cities as a way to fill an immense gap in the current system of care and engage a highly vulnerable and difficult to reach population – ultimately reducing the public health burden and saving lives.

But polls show that a Supervised Injection Site will likely face the familiar barrier of unfavorable public opinion in Sault Ste Marie, behind the times as usual. Supervised Injection Sites remain highly controversial and stigmatized.

The public and political concerns and fears are clear: that Supervised Injection Sites promote drug use, that they will bring drug users to the neighborhoods they are located in, that it is morally and legally wrong to encourage and allow drug use, and so on.

NIMBY.

This battle illuminates the societal impact of the war on drugs and a country that criminalizes addiction. Calls for “Heroin-Assisted Treatment”, as practised in some European countries, like Switzerland, are going nowhere.

Canada is still not Switzerland.

Even if Canada managed to build 100 Supervised Injection Sites, that might cover only 1% of actual usage. It’s just not scalable.

Suboxone is scalable. Needle exchanges are scalable. Naloxone is scalable. Anonymous drug testing is scalable. That’s what public health should concentrate on.

Primary Care Providers (PCP), doctors and nurse practitioners, should be fully educated and trained on the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder with Suboxone, Methadone or Naltrexone.

Two measures alone, Anonymous Drug Testing (to screen for Fentanyl-tainted drugs) and increased access to Suboxone, would do more than anything else to immediately reduce harm and deaths from opioids.

The challenge now is that the nature of addiction has transformed into something deadlier in recent years—and not just because of potent synthetic opioids like Fentanyl and Carfentanil. (Carfentanil’s potency is 10,000 times that of Morphine and 100 times that of Fentanyl.)

It is because of the rising abuse of other types of drugs as well – stimulants (Meth and Cocaine) and “Benzos.”

In 2011, 19% of opioid drug users said that they also used Crystal Meth (Methamphetamine); by 2019 that number had grown to 60%.

Opioids such as Heroin, Oxycodone and Fentanyl depress the nervous system and have a sedative effect.

Methamphetamines, on the other hand, are stimulants and have the opposite effect, making people euphoric and feeling like they have endless energy.

Like Cocaine, Crystal Meth makes a user high by releasing the neurotransmitter Dopamine into the brain. But with Crystal Meth, the effects are more pronounced, last longer and keep users awake for extended periods of time. In fact, people who are homeless, living in shelters or crowded, unsafe spaces, seek out Crystal Meth in particular.

To protect themselves and their belongings, they need to stay awake; and in order to stay awake, they use Crystal Meth daily.

The availability and use of Crystal Meth is still increasing rapidly because Meth is so cheap, and people get such a quick and powerful rush of euphoria that can last for 12 hours or more. A “hit” with what is almost 100% pure Meth can cost as little as $5..

According to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the going street rate for Meth in Northern Ontario, as of 2020, was $10 to $30 a “point” (one-tenth of a gram). Dealers operate on the principle of supply and demand, so communities plagued by addiction — like Sault Ste Marie — are an attractive market in which to sell a cheap drug.

It is not confined to any particular socio-economic group, but found everywhere in every strata of society. Nor is it exclusively an urban issue. No community is immune to it, especially rural and First Nations communities.

One community struggling with the Crystal Meth epidemic is the Montreal Lake First Nation, where an estimated 60% of residents are addicted to the drug. Winnipeg, Calgary and Regina are in the grip of a Crystal Meth crisis that is only getting worse.

Meth is a key factor driving crime rates, both violent and property related.

In 2016, Crystal Meth hit with full force and crime rates — primarily thefts of items people were selling to feed their addiction — increased dramatically.

The Calgary police chief says; “Fentanyl is a community health crisis, Crystal Meth is a crime and safety issue.”

Crystal Meth use makes treatment more complicated. There are no well-developed pharmaceutical therapeutics for addiction to Crystal Meth.

Doctors have started using Olanzapine, an antipsychotic drug, to try to provide immediate relief for patients suffering distressing symptoms from Meth use. “Olanzapine sort of gels their brain a bit,” one ER doctor said. “Their brain is firing all over the place, and if we can help just bring it together a little bit so that we can start working and talking through it, that’s helpful.” If that doesn’t work, and safety is a concern, patients sometimes have to be sedated further, or even physically restrained.

After the patient has settled down, there’s little more that healthcare workers can do.

The doctor said it’s upsetting to watch patients leave the emergency department knowing that their Meth-induced mood swings, paranoia and hallucinations can last for days — not to mention the “cravings that come afterwards.”

“All of that sets somebody up to use again very quickly.”

“The understanding of how to treat somebody who is interested in stopping Meth is very, very minimal,” she said.

Unlike opioid replacement therapy — which uses Suboxone or Methadone to relieve withdrawal symptoms — Meth has no pharmaceutical solution to reduce cravings. “It’s a whole other area of substance abuse and addiction that is so difficult.”

Deaths due to “Meth toxicity” (with no evidence of opiates) increased, from 38 cases in 2015 to 54 in 2018, Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s chief coroner said. In those cases, a Meth-induced irregular heartbeat rhythm could be a possible cause of death.

84% of deaths involving Meth also involved an opioid in 2020.

Last year marked the first time Ontario has included stimulant-related deaths in its overdose-death data, which has typically counted only deaths caused by opioids. In total, there were at least 300 overdose deaths that involved both stimulants and opioids, every month in Ontario from May to October in 2020 – the equivalent of 10 people dying every day.

Today, more people using Meth are at risk of dying from overdoses than ever before. Just as drug dealers have cut opioids like Heroin with Fentanyl or Carfentanil, they have also mixed them into other types of drugs, including Meth.

For one Meth user, life has become a seemingly unbreakable cycle, in which he commits crimes to feed his addiction, goes to jail, comes out sober and then relapses, starting all over again. Without a trace of resentment or self-pity, he acknowledges that jail has been the only place where he’s been drug-free for long stretches.

“As much as, like, nobody wants to go to jail, it’s really the only place where I can grow as a person,” he said.

Europe is becoming a right-wing continent

The Week

Europe is becoming a right-wing continent

Noah Millman, Columnist July 8, 2021

I wonder how it will feel when Europe becomes distinctly more right-wing than the United States.

It’s not an inconceivable prospect. The United Kingdom has a Tory government right now, and based on current polling their position looks increasingly secure. France’s centrist president Emmanuel Macron would likely be re-elected if the election were held today, but Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally party polls considerably higher today in a one-on-one contest with Macron than it did in 2017. Italy’s fragile coalition could be followed by a right-wing coalition of Matteo Salvini’s Lega and the neofascist-derived Fratelli D’Italia.

Even in Germany, where the Christian Democrat Angela Merkel’s 16-year rule is coming to a close, the next government may once again be a coalition led by the CDU/CSU, if not with the center-left SDP, then in a “Jamaica coalition” with a reinvigorated center-right FDP joining the Greens by their side.

Of course polls can and do change, and one election does not imply a radical cultural shift. But the overall political climate in Europe has been trending rightward for some time. After the financial crisis, and the austerity that followed, the traditional left-wing parties began to collapse, and more nationalist and extreme-right alternatives to the mainstream — the AfD in Germany, National Rally in France, UKIP in England — began to arise. The surge in immigration that followed Syria’s and Libya’s collapse into civil war were further sources of fuel. These parties and movements — critical of the European Union, strongly opposed to immigration, frequently more friendly to Russia — were initially and in many cases still are opposed by all the mainstream parties, but that opposition did little to stem their growth. Eventually, in countries like Hungary and Poland, they began to win elections and assume the powers of government.

In Europe today, the most viable traditional parties are often mainstream right-wing parties that have sought to coopt the nationalist right’s issues — most notably Boris Johnson’s Tory Party, which eclipsed UKIP by adopting Brexit for itself — or parties self-consciously constituted around the technocratic center so as to unite the mainstream against the far right. True left-wing parties like Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s in France or Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour have largely fizzled. Meanwhile, the far right continues to produce new phenomena, most recently France’s Eric Zemmour, who has outflanked Le Pen on the right by being even more nationalist than she is.

If the result of all this ferment is a European political realignment that contains the far right by reviving a more inward-focused traditional conservatism, that would be good for Europe and, ultimately, for European relations with America. A Europe that was more oriented around national solidarity than global humanitarianism, open immigration, or free markets is a Europe America could readily live, work, and trade with. If by that means the continent achieved greater political stability and democratic accountability, most observers would consider it far preferable to either a lurch to the far right or a descent into civil strife.

But it might be startling for the American left to hear even centrist European politicians like Emmanuel Macron blame them for undermining national solidarity with their “woke” leftism. They might have to get used to it, though. Nothing is more useful for promoting national unity than a foreign threat. And while America’s foreign policy establishment would likely prefer that China be that threat, it makes far more sense for a Europe turning inward to decry pernicious American influence on their social fabric than China’s threats to Taiwan or its oppression of the Uyghur people.

The question then would be whether America’s left will take a lesson from the demise of their European cousins, and rethink their own approach to politics before they face a similar eclipse, and downgrade cultural questions in favor of bread and butter issues. Or, perhaps, whether Europe’s turn to the right will inspire America’s left to see unique promise once more in our own country’s distance from nationalism of the Old World, and redefine their own vision of a culturally egalitarian future not as a necessary redemption of our nation’s sinful history, but as a hoped-for fulfillment of distinctively American promise.

Utah’s Great Salt Lake is in trouble

Axios

Utah’s Great Salt Lake is in trouble

Axios July 7, 2021

Utah’s Great Salt Lake is in trouble, with serious ramifications for one of America’s fastest-growing areas.

Why it matters: It’s the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River and has been shrinking for years, with the mega-drought making it even worse, reports AP’s Lindsay Whitehurst.

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The lake’s levels are expected to hit a 170-year low this year.
Wildlife is suffering from the decline, especially birds and shrimp.

Visitors stand in the shallow waters in June. Photo: Rick Bowmer/AP

The waves have been replaced by dry, gravelly lakebed that’s grown to 750 square miles. Winds can whip up dust from the dry lakebed that is laced with naturally occurring arsenic.

Tourism is also at risk: The dust from the lakebed could speed up snowmelt at Utah’s popular ski resorts.

And once-popular lakeside resorts are now long shuttered.

People swim at Saltair in 1933. The resort once drew sunbathers who would float like corks in the Great Salt Lake’s extra salty waters. Photo: Salt Lake Tribune via AP

The bottom line: To maintain lake levels, diverting water from rivers that flow into it would have to decrease by 30%.

But for the state with the nation’s fastest-growing population, addressing the problem will require a major shift in how water is allocated.

The ‘Good’ Republicans Are Bad, and the Bad Ones Are Batshit

Daily Beast

The ‘Good’ Republicans Are Bad, and the Bad Ones Are Batshit

Molly Jong-Fast July 8, 2021

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty

Chip Roy from Texas’ 21st Congressional District didn’t vote to overturn the election of the 2020 election, which made him slightly better than 147 of his colleagues who voted to change the election results because they didn’t like them.

Roy released a statement with a small group of Republican reps who wanted to follow the law despite the fact that their guy lost, warning that trying to overturn the election would “strengthen the efforts of those on the left who are determined to eliminate it or render it irrelevant.” He even went as far as to challenge the seating of representatives from states where members of his party were challenging the results of the election—a pretty bold move considering one of the people who was challenging the results was his old boss Ted Cruz.

But what a difference six months makes. Roy is no longer Team Electoral College and the Constitution. He’s joined the rest of his party—with the exception of soon-to-be-purged Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney—on Team Own the Libs Even If It Means Killing Your Supporters.

GOP Rep: If Dems Win Senate, We’ll Be in ‘Full-Scale Hot Conflict’

This weekend he was sounding like a mini-Newt, telling a group in a recently surfaced video that “Honestly, right now, for the next 18 months, our job is to do everything we can to slow all of that down to get to December of 2022, and then get in there and lead.” When CNN followed up, “Roy responded to coverage of his earlier comments in a statement standing by his remarks, saying he plans to ‘oppose almost everything that Congress does,’ and pledging ‘to fight with every ounce of my being to stop the radical left—and weak Republicans.’” And then of course there was his weird anti-vaxxer tweet: “come inject it.” A great message when the most contagious delta variant is taking hold and new polling from the Washington Post-ABC shows that 47 percent of Republicans “aren’t likely to get vaccinated.”

This is the Republican brand now: death before decency. What Roy’s colleague Paul Gosar learned from Trumpism is that working with terrifying far-right extremists is totally cool. Gosar is now even more far-right than Steve King, who was censured for his white nationalist statements back when Republicans at least pretended to give a shit.

This Trump Wannabe Just Might Be the Worst of the Rotten Bunch

Now Gosar is being praised by white nationalist Nick Fuentes—and minority “Leader” Kevin McCarthy is fine with that, just like he’s fine with Marjorie Taylor Greene raving about the Jews and Matt Gaetz (R-Sex Creep) staying on the House Ethics Committee so that he could question the head of the FBI while continuing to be investigated by the FBI.

Meanwhile Stop the Steal speaker Mo Brooks is now running for Senate in Alabama. Brooks, who was a planner of the Jan. 6 rally, according to a deleted video from Ali Alexander, claims in a new civil filing that he only spoke at the rally-turned-riot because the White House told him to. That was in the same legal filing in which he said he believes that Trump still won the election (Trump did not).

Since no one in Trumpworld has been punished for anything, Republicans have learned that you do anything at all and no one will ever hold you accountable. Local Republicans continue trying to make it harder for the “wrong people” to vote, including Native Americans in Montana this week. It’s not about racism, they insist; it’s about stopping groups that back Democrats who oppose racism.

Trump taught Republicans that they can be as shitty as they want, and no one will stop them, as long as they don’t cross Trump. Just look at former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned after he was indicted on felony charges after cheating on his wife with a woman he blackmailed and abused. He’s running for Senate now, and a GOP mega-donor just gave him $2.5 million because allegations of sexual assault are no longer a barrier to entry in today’s GOP; they may even be the mark of a “real man.” Just ask Donald.

These people will continue to break rules and wreck our democracy until someone—are you listening, Merrick Garland?—holds them accountable.

If Chip Roy is the best of this rotten bunch, it’s time to toss the whole barrel. William Butler Yeats must have been writing about the Republicans when he wrote that “the best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”

Pew Poll: The Republican Party is Literally Dying, With The GOP’s Backbone Now People Over 75.

The Sierra Madre Tattler

Pew Poll: The Republican Party is Literally Dying, With The GOP’s Backbone Now People Over 75.

thesierramadretattler.blogspot.com July 7, 2021

Mod: Bad news for Jumbo. Many of the Republican Party‘s most loyal voters are not as young as they used to be, and nobody is exactly rushing in to line up and replace them.

The Republican Party Is Literally Shrinking And Dying Right Before Our Eyes (PoliticusUSA link): A new analysis of voter file information found that the Republican Party’s backbone is people over 75, and that group is becoming a smaller share of the electorate.

The Week reported, “But Pew also broke the survey down into not just age groups but generational cohorts. And it’s here where you’ll find the most terrifying information for the GOP. According to Pew, Trump won a decisive majority only with members of the “Silent Generation,” those born between 1928 and 1945 (and the extremely tiny number of living people older than that).”

“Trump dominated that cohort by 16 points, 58-42. That means that the only reliably Republican voter bloc will shrink considerably between now and 2024, and that 65- to 74-year-olds must have been a much more blue-leaning group in 2020 to produce Trump’s comparatively narrow 4-point margin with all over-65s.”

The Republican Party is literally dying, These numbers suggest that the Republican base will continue to get smaller, as younger and more Democratic voters take up a larger share of the electorate.

Given this context, the Republican Party has opted for a strategy of making the electorate as small as possible. The only way that they can win elections, even while the backbone of their party is expiring, is to make sure that as many people as possible can’t vote and participate in elections.

Republicans had a choice after they lost in 2020. They could have opted to reassess their tactics and tried to rebrand themselves to appeal to younger voters, or they could run it all back with an even older and defeated Donald Trump, who is young voter repellent in human form.They have chosen voter suppression and Trump.

The clock is ticking on the Republican Party. They are fighting a battle that they have already lost. The party isn’t just getting smaller, it is literally dying before our eyes.

Sen. Ron Johnson mouths to GOP group that climate change is ‘bullsh–‘ just weeks before deadly heat wave

Business Insider

Sen. Ron Johnson mouths to GOP group that climate change is ‘bullsh–‘ just weeks before deadly heat wave

John Haltiwanger July 7, 2021

Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Ron Johnson mouthed to a GOP luncheon that climate change is “bullsh–,” CNN reported.
His comments came weeks before a fatal heat wave in the Pacific Northwest that scientists attributed to climate change.
Johnson has a long record of rejecting facts or making comments at odds with science on climate change.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called climate change “bullsh–” during a GOP luncheon in early June, just weeks before a heat wave claimed dozens of lives in the Pacific Northwest. Scientists have linked the historic high temperatures to climate change.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I think climate change is – as Lord Monckton said – bullsh–,” Johnson said during the Republican Women of Greater Wisconsin Luncheon at Alioto’s in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, in comments caught on video and first reported by CNN. “By the way, it is.”

Johnson – who referred to Lord Christopher Monckton, a climate skeptic who has held positions in the British government and press – did not actually say “bullsh–” out loud, but mouthed the word.

The Wisconsin senator defended himself in comments to CNN, rejecting the notion that he’s a climate change denier.

“My statements are consistent. I am not a climate change denier, but I also am not a climate change alarmist. Climate is not static. It has always changed and always will change,” Johnson said.

The world’s top scientists say that climate change is real and caused by human activities. In short, Johnson’s comments are not backed up by science.

Johnson further defended himself on Twitter, writing, “I do not share Rep. Ocasio-Cortez view that the ‘world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.’ Or POTUS saying the ‘greatest threat’ to U.S. security is climate change. I consider those to be extreme positions – to say the least.”

The Wisconsin Republican was referencing remarks made by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in January 2019. Ocasio-Cortez has said she did not mean the world would literally end in 12 years, and was referencing a United Nations report that said humans only had a dozen years to change their behavior and avoid a climate change catastrophe.

Johnson also dismissed President Joe Biden’s comments on the national security threat posed by climate change, which have been backed up by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

“Climate change is going to impact natural resources, for example,” Milley said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in June. “It’s going to impact increased instability in various parts of the world. It’s going to impact migrations, and so on.”

Johnson has a long record of making statements at odds with science and denying that climate change is a product of human activities. In 2010, for example, Johnson falsely said Greenland only recently froze and erroneously suggested it was named for its previously green landscapes.

Not Your Grandfathers GOP !

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Farmworkers face dangerous conditions as heat waves scorch Western U.S.

Yahoo – News

Farmworkers face dangerous conditions as heat waves scorch Western U.S.

David Knowles, Senior Editor July 8, 2021

With temperatures expected to top 110 degrees in California’s Central Valley, and reach 120 degrees in the southern part of the state, migrant farmworkers will once again be forced to endure dangerous conditions born of climate change.

“Farmworkers really are at the frontlines of climate change,” Leydy Rangel, communications manager for the United Farm Workers Foundation told Yahoo News. “Unfortunately, that’s an issue that will not get better. We know that heat is the No. 1 cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S.”

When a heat dome descended over the Pacific Northwest last month, Sebastian Francisco Perez, a Guatemalan immigrant, was found unresponsive on June 26 at the farm where he had been working in 104-degree heat.

A farmer pulls a wind-felled almond tree with a tractor on an almond farm in Gustine, California, U.S., on Monday, June 14, 2021. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In response, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown directed the state’s workplace safety agency to implement rules designed to protect workers from extreme heat.

“All Oregonians should be able to go to work knowing that conditions will be safe and that they will return home to their families at the end of the day,” Brown said in a statement. “While Oregon OSHA has been working to adopt permanent rules related to heat, it became clear that immediate action was necessary in order to protect Oregonians, especially those whose work is critical to keeping Oregon functioning and oftentimes must continue during extreme weather.”

California’s heat standards — which mandate clean drinking water for workers, breaks and access to shade — were put in place following the 2008 death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, a 17-year-old migrant worker from Oaxaca, Mexico. Unaware that she was pregnant, she died while while harvesting grapes at a farm near Stockton, Calif., in temperatures near 100 degrees.

“Farmworkers have been excluded from many of the rights and benefits that protect other workers partly because they are immigrants and don’t have legal status,” Rangel said.

During last month’s heat dome event in the Pacific Northwest, which killed hundreds of people across the region, the UFW conducted a text-message survey of agricultural workers in Washington state. While the results are still preliminary and have not yet been published, Rangel told Yahoo News that of the 1,875 workers who responded, 56 percent reported experiencing symptoms associated with heat illness while on the job, 26 percent said they were not being provided with cool drinking water and 96 percent said that they believed heat regulations should be improved in the state.

Ben DuVal stands in a field of triticale, one of the few crops his family was able to plant this year due to the water shortage, on Wednesday, June 9, 2021, in Tulelake, Calif. (Nathan Howard/AP Photo)

Washington, California and Minnesota are the only states in the nation that have implemented heat rights for farmworkers, Rangel said, but the standards vary. As yet there are is no federal legislation to protect workers from exposure to excessive heat.

In 2019, the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act was introduced in the House of Representatives. Like California’s heat standards, the bill is named after an agricultural worker who perished while picking table grapes for 10 hours straight in temperatures over 100 degrees. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., introduced the bill in the Senate this year.

“Workers in California and across the country are too often exposed to dangerous heat conditions in the workplace. In the past year, Californians have faced extreme heat temperatures from wildfires, while trying to navigate the unique challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic — risking the health and safety of our workers,” Padilla said in a statement when the bill was introduced. “This vital legislation will hold employers accountable and ensure workplace protections are put in place to prevent further heat stress illness and deaths from happening.”

The bill’s sponsors noted that 815 workers in the U.S. had been killed due to heat stress injuries between 1992 and 2017, and more than 70,000 workers had been seriously injured.

Pedro Lucas (left), nephew of farm worker Sebastian Francisco Perez who died last weekend while working in an extreme heat wave, break up earth on Thursday, July, 1, 2021 near St. Paul, Ore. (Nathan Howard/AP Photo)

From soaring temperatures to increased exposure to smoke from wildfires, climate change has made the conditions for migrant farmworkers, most of whom have come to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America, increasingly dangerous. As California braces for its third record-breaking heat wave of 2021, farmworkers are having to adapt to a new normal.

“Every single year, we keep hitting record after record in terms of temperatures,” Rangel said. “That’s only going to continue. So it’s important that we do something now before we see more deaths. Everyone deserves to be protected when they go to work.”

Hartmann: Finally, a Missouri Democrat Who Brings the Heat

Riverfront Times

Hartmann: Finally, a Missouri Democrat Who Brings the Heat

By Ray Hartmann July 8, 2021

Lucas Kunce, in his first campaign ad, came out fighting.

Lucas Kunce is putting on a clinic for his fellow Democrats.

A political outsider, Kunce has embarked on a quixotic journey to become a U.S. senator from Missouri, running for the seat that will be vacated in 2022 by retiring Senator Roy Blunt. The guy started with virtually no name identification, record in office or blessing from the Democratic Party establishment. He’s an ex-Marine with a fine résumé, but that’s about it, on paper.

Even if Kunce were able to overcome all odds against more established politicians in the Democratic primary, he would certainly find himself a huge longshot when squared off against some better-known, slavish Trump devotee in Trump country. Suffice it to say Missouri is labeled “solid Republican” on every conventional political war map for 2022.

Despite all that, there is something that sets Lucas Kunce apart.

Unlike any statewide Democrat in memory, Kunce has come out of the gate with fire in his eyes and a forceful style made for the moment of the digital age. He has a swagger, campaigning as if he’s already won the Democratic primary. When he goes after Republicans vying to replace Blunt, he acts as if they had already won the GOP nomination.

Kunce calls disgraced ex-Governor Eric Greitens “a flat-out criminal who should be in prison.” He describes vigilante lawyer Mark McCloskey as a “clown” and a “criminal” and “Mansion Man.” Last month, Kunce posted a hilarious video — a spot-on parody of Greitens’ famous assault-rifle campaign ad of 2016 — offering McCloskey free Marine-led firearms training if he’ll only apologize to those Black Lives Matter protesters who he menaced last June. It went viral.

Kunce has unveiled a dramatically populist campaign, attacking “massive corporations and corrupt bureaucrats.” He describes the national group where he has his day job — the American Economic Liberties Project — as “a nonprofit fighting large corporations who use their monopoly power to stick it to the middle class.”

That’s the sort of message that can resonate with everyday voters the Democrats have lost in droves for the past decade or two, especially in rural areas. And Kunce is willing to call out his own party’s politicians, as well as the Republicans, for having become beholden to corporate money. He even includes Facebook while railing against the monopolists, presently a Republican talking point. The man is different.

It’s not every day that you see a Missouri Democrat’s Twitter feed referring to “weed” while demanding an end to the drug war. Or throwing down on behalf of someone as controversial as Olympic sensation Sha’Carri Richardson, who lost her spot in the upcoming Tokyo games over an insanely stupid drug test. Or crusading for a pardon for Kevin Strickland, the Black man “convicted by an all-white jury for a crime he didn’t commit,” as Kunce notes bluntly.

This is not the customary soundtrack of Missouri Democrats, who are more comfortable sticking to soft language about racial justice and paying homage to Juneteenth. Few prominent Democrats would touch lightning rods like Richardson and Strickland as Kunce did.

But guess what? Running to win — as opposed to running not to lose — isn’t working out so badly for Kunce. Less than four months into the race, he’s gaining support far beyond what would normally be expected from an unknown candidate.

Like it or not, the scoreboard that matters early in a big race is the one maintained by the Federal Election Commission that shows the quarterly campaign fundraising reports of the candidates. So far, Kunce is blowing it up.

Kunce reports that he raised some $630,000 with no corporate PAC money and with 99 percent of his more than 20,000 donors giving less than $200. That comes on the heels of a stunning first-quarter report showing he had received $280,000 in less than a month without holding a campaign event.

Topping $900,000 in less than four months is no small feat for a first-time candidate. The total amount is but a small fraction of what a Senate candidate would need to compete in Missouri, but it’s the number of small donations that Kunce has been able to raise in such short order that has to get one’s attention.

Kunce’s populism might be popular. The fact that he could garner thousands of small-ticket donors without having held office or previously waged a major campaign defies expectations.

Now, before Kunce could test-drive his populism against an actual Republican foe, he would have to defeat his Democratic primary opposition. The leader now is former state Senator Scott Sifton of south St. Louis County. Sifton slightly outraised Kunce in the first quarter and has until July 15 to disclose his second-quarter results.

It’s an interesting contrast, to put it mildly. Sifton was a highly respected state senator — well liked among his colleagues and a lawyer widely regarded as one of the smartest members of the legislature. He’d be a fine U.S. senator.

But he’s a classic example of a Democrat running to the soft center, adverse to taking risks. He’s great on the issues, but not so much on the headlines.

If Sifton were the party’s nominee, he’d be a dramatically better choice than any member of the tragic Republican field. But it’s hard to see him breaking the Democrats’ recent losing streak in big races without showing more fire.

There’s a common misconception in Missouri politics that the state transformed into “deep red” almost overnight after having been dominated by statewide Democratic officeholders as recently as 2012. That’s not true. The simple reality is that Democrats have over a period of many years stopped connecting with the very voters — especially those blue-collar, middle-class and rural — who constituted much of their base for many decades.

This started happening long before ex-President Voldemort came along. Let’s not forget that he didn’t have an ideological bone in his body. He won because he made that connection with people who felt they have been left behind by elites of both political parties, especially Democrats. This wasn’t “Trumpism”: It was a masterful exploitation of fear and grievance that only a world-class conman could pull off.

Everyday Missourians vote their emotions, not their ideas. The Democrats lost touch with them in the past few statewide election cycles because they forgot how to talk to them. Now, with Republicans poised to field a ghastly candidate next year, there’s an opening that would not have existed against Blunt.

It’s far too early to know if Democrats can pull an upset in this race, but any of the present GOP hopefuls looks far more beatable than Blunt would have been. For his part, Kunce must prove he can withstand the test of time.

But the one thing he has shown is that a Democrat can buck the culture war. For too long, the party’s candidates have caricatured the elites so roundly resented in the heartland. Kunce’s populist appeal offers a visceral connection — along with a swagger — and early on, it’s working.

His party might want to pay attention.

Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann1952@gmail.com or catch him on Donnybrook at 7 p.m. on Thursdays on the Nine Network and St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

Death Valley to see another round of record-rivaling temps

Accu Weather

Death Valley to see another round of record-rivaling temps

Rina Torchinsky July 7, 2021

High heat in Death Valley pushed the mercury up to 128 degrees Fahrenheit about three weeks ago, far above what’s normal there for this time of year. And another round of above-average heat was building in the region, which could send temperatures just as high over the weekend.

Sunday’s high in Death Valley is forecast to reach 130 degrees, which would be within four degrees of the record set there in 1913 of 134. The 134-degree mark happens to be the world record for the highest temperature ever measured on Earth. AccuWeather forecasts show that the RealFeel could reach 132 degrees Sunday in Death Valley.

The high temperatures are a result of a heat dome, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. The phenomenon occurs when there is an area of high pressure, not only in the lower part of the atmosphere but also at the jet stream level, Sosnowski explained.

Death Valley, along with parts of Nye County and the Mojave Desert, is set to be under an excessive heat warning from 8 a.m. Wednesday through 8 p.m. PDT Monday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). On Wednesday, the first day of that warning, the temperature soared to 126 degrees in Death Valley.

Last month, during the heat wave the gripped the Southwest, AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell was on the ground in Death Valley at the height of the heat, and he spoke with people from around the country who happened to have been visiting during the hot spell.

FILE – In this Aug. 17, 2020, file photo, Steve Krofchik cools off with a bottle of ice water on his head in Death Valley National Park, Calif. Climate-connected disasters seem everywhere in the crazy year 2020, but scientists Wednesday, Sept. 9, say it’ll get worse. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

“This is exceptionally hot. It’s scary how hot it is,” Linda Utz of Titusville, Florida, marveled. “We planned this trip last October and made reservations,” she explained to Wadell. “While we knew it would be warm because it was summer, we never expected this type of heat.”

And as far as it goes for people who spend almost all of their time in Death Valley, “This is an extremely hot place for us to live and work, as well as it is for people to visit,” Abby Wines, Death Valley National Park spokesperson, said. “There is something to be said for climatizing, so a person who acclimatizes to a high altitude, their body can adjust somewhat to dealing with extreme heat.”

The stretch of weather extending through the end of the week could bring “dangerously hot conditions,” according to the NWS. The western Mojave Desert and Owens Valley could see temperatures as high as 110 degrees. The region could see record-rivaling or record-breaking temperatures.

Bishop, California, already saw a record-high temperature of 105 degrees Tuesday, tying a previous record set in 1945, according to a record report from the NWS.

Just last week, the Northwest battled a round of its own record-breaking temperatures. The historic heat wave stretched well into Canada as Lytton, British Columbia, broke a national record at 121 degrees, Canada’s government weather service reported. Within days of reaching that mark, the small town was devastated by wildfires, which consumed 90% of the village.

British Columbia’s chief coroner said that there were 486 reports of “sudden and unexpected” deaths in a five-day period during the heat wave, according to The Associated Press. The province usually sees about 165 deaths within that time interval.

Meanwhile, in Washington, there were at least 676 emergency department visits over a three-day period during the heat wave.

The NWS cautioned that the warm conditions in the Southwest could increase the potential for heat-related illnesses, especially for those who are outside. The heat warning encourages people to drink plenty of fluids and to stick to air-conditioned spaces.

Climate Central

A number of cooling stations will be activated in Clark County, Nevada, from July 7 to 12, according to a tweet from the city of Las Vegas, which cautioned residents about the dangers of heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

Heat is the most deadly weather impact annually in the U.S. Extreme heat has contributed to an average of 138 fatalities every year over the past 30 years.

In addition, high heat is notorious for causing a spike in visits to the hospital. According to data compiled by Climate Central, as extreme heat builds, the risk of heat-r elated illnesses also mounts. The Climate Central data shows a correlation between a rise in hospital visits for different parts of the country as temperatures rise, noting that “People in historically cooler regions may be less acclimatized to heat, and lack the infrastructure to cope with it.”