The Globe and Mail - 25.11.2019

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OTTAWA/QUEBECEDITION ■ MONDAY,NOVEMBER25,2019 ■ GLOBEANDMAIL.COM

The number of intentional overdoses in-
volving common over-the-counter and
prescription drugs has increased steeply
among young people in the last decade, ac-
cording to new data provided to The Globe
and Mail by the Canadian Institute for
Health Information.
The number of cases roughly doubled
for children and teenagers in Alberta and
Ontario, the two provinces for which data
were available, in two categories of drugs
that include over-the-counter painkiller
medications and prescriptions for drugs
such as antidepressants and sedatives, ac-
cording to the CIHI data, which tracked
emergency-department visits.
For children under the age of 13, the
number of intentional overdoses, while
still small, nearly tripled, between 2010 and
2018.
The data correspond with findings in an
Ontario study, published Monday in the
journal Clinical Toxicology, that analyzed
rising rates of intentional overdoses
among youth between 2010 and 2015. The
study found that acetaminophen, most
well-known by its brand name Tylenol, was
the most commonly used drug, followed by
antidepressants and then non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Advil.
The danger of acetaminophen has
prompted experts to call for Health Canada
to restrict higher doses of the drug and the
number of pills that can be sold at one time.
The move has been taken in other coun-
tries, where research suggests that restric-
tions contributed to a reduction in suicides
and self-harm incidents.
“It makes no sense having stores selling
huge bottles of Tylenol,” said Eric Yoshida,
a liver specialist at Vancouver General Hos-
pital and the chair of the medical advisory
committee for the Canadian Liver Founda-
tion. “That is a recipe for disaster.”
Easy access is the main factor in the type
of the drugs being used, researchers say.
DRUGS,A

Moreteensusing

over-the-counter

drugstooverdose,

datashow

ERINANDERSSEN

BOARDGAMES

ReportonBusinessranksCanadian

companiesoncorporategovernance

B

HEALTH

Withvapingontherise,scientists

don’tknowhownicotineaffectsteens

A

CARLOGIAMBARRESI/THEGLOBEANDMAIL

TENNIS

CanadafallstoSpaininhistoricDavis

CuprunasNadaltopsShapovalov

B

BeforeQuadriga:Inside

GeraldCotten’sshady

digitalventures A

ev Wieben is a farmer in north-

western Alberta’s Peace region,

a slice of the province where

roughly one-third of the crops

remain unharvested. Farmers in the ar-

ea ship grain on the Canadian National

Railway Co. network, but the rail strike

is not her biggest problem – yet.

Ms. Wieben has some wheat and ca-

nola still in the fields – where it will

likely remain until spring – but right

now, she is dealing with the three fro-

zen piles of grain she and her husband

harvested this fall. They need to chip it

loose, augur it into a truck to get it to

their farmyard, then run it through a

grain dyer. The grain is so wet that it

must go through the dryer twice, oth-

erwise the excess moisture could cause

it to rot in the bins.

“I’ve already had a talk with my

banker telling her that I’m not going to

be able to make my December loan

[payment],” said Ms. Wieben, whose

farm is near Fairview, about 600 kilo-

metres northwest of Edmonton. “You

can only [renegotiate] your loan so

many times before the banker goes:

‘That’s enough.’ ”

And so in the back of her mind, she

worries that she and her husband,

Greg, will have to auction their machin-

ery, ending their farm.

“I don’t think we’re quite there yet,

but it could happen if the strike goes

on long enough.”

Roughly 3,200 CN employees, who

are members of the Teamsters Canada

Rail Conference union, launched a

strike last Tuesday. In the Prairies,

farmers are nervous they will not be

able to get their products to market,

adding another layer of stress to what

was already a difficult – and costly –

crop year for some. That, and trade dis-

putes are dragging on, most notably

China’s import ban on the majority of

Canada’s canola.

After nearly a week, there is no im-

mediate end in sight to the CN strike

and the railway said on the weekend it

would temporarily lay off 70 workers

starting Thursday at its Halifax port op-

erations. The two sides appear to re-

main far apart in a dispute that has

centred around long working hours

and what the union has described as

dangerous working conditions.

The federalgovernment is also fac-

ing renewed pressure to quickly recall

Parliament to pass back-to-work legis-

lation, as the disruption has hit numer-

ous sectors, including agriculture and

energy, and as Quebec warned it was

running out of propane.

ALBERTA, A

Grainstraina-rairiefarersthreatenedQyrailstri–e

CARRIETAITCALGARY

As the government accelerated mass de-
tentions of Muslim minorities in north-
western China, a senior official issued a se-
cret directive giving detailed orders for
how the rapidly expanding indoctrination
camps holding them should be managed.
Guards should impose pervasive,
round-the-clock video surveillance to pre-
vent escapes.
Inmates were to be kept isolated from
the outside world and held to a strict scor-
ing system that could determine when
they might be released. And the facilities
were to be shrouded in secrecy, with even
employees banned from bringing in mo-
bile phones. “It is necessary,” the directive
from two years ago said, “to strengthen the
staff’s awareness of staying secret, serious
political discipline and secrecy discipline.”
Now that secrecy has been shattered
with the publication of the directive itself.
It is one of six internal documents ob-
tained by the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists that shed new
light on China’s crackdown in the Xinjiang
region, where a million or more ethnic
Uyghurs, Kazakhs and others have been
detained in the past three years.
The disclosure of the 24 pages of docu-
ments amounts to a second significant
leak from inside China’s ruling Communi-
st Party related to the crackdown. A mem-
ber of the Chinese political establishment
shared a different, 403-page set of internal
papers with The New York Times earlier
this year, expressing hope that it would
make it more difficult for party leaders, in-
cluding President Xi Jinping, to escape cul-
pability for the mass detentions.
While the source of the new documents
is unknown – they were provided by Uygh-
ur overseas networks – their disclosure
may amount to another sign of dissent in
the party over the crackdown.
CHINA,A

Documentsreveal

innerworkingsof

China’sdetention

campsforUyghurs

AUSTINRAMZY
CHRISBUCKLEYHONGKONG

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