Duncan Blewett – pioneer of the human psyche and founder of the U of R psychology department – passed away Feb. 24. While working at the Weyburn Psychiatric Hospital in the 1950s, Dr. Blewett theorized that the mentally ill could, in a sense, treat themselves through self-realization and self-understanding of their behaviour. Along with colleagues Humphry Osmond and Abram Hoffer, he explored LSD as a gateway to self-awareness by experimenting on himself.

If Provincial Bill No. 20 - The Gunshot and Stab Wounds Mandatory Report Act - goes through, health professionals will be required to report anyone coming forward for medical treatment with a knife or gun wound to the police.  This is another of a number of coercive, law and order type pieces of legislation the current Saskatchewan government is producing that are making life worse for many of our residents. Because confidential and private medical treatment will no longer be the norm in such cases, the result will be more illness, infection and possibly death. People will avoid medical care when they most need it.

It is a harm maximization policy in an era where harm minimization policies are becoming more acceptable as a public health response. Medical professionals will become an extension of the police force. Under the guise of creating safer communities, Saskatchewan has rcently brought in other policies that are more akin to the deepening of police enforcement and surveillance than they are to anything else.  In the long run, addressing the root causes of the problems facing vulnerable people would be more effective. Instead, another crusade to keep the fact of massive poverty and its affects from the eyes of the public, and doing nothing about it, is the result.

After years of such coercive policies in some US states, there is absolutely no evidence that of any affect on levels of violence. According to the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association (SRNA) brief to the Standing committee on Intergovernmental Affairs and Infrastructure consultation held in the past week to look at Bill 20, approximately 4% of firearm related deaths in Canada were accidental, 78% were suicidal, and 15% were homicidal in 1997. Suicide attempts appear to be the gunshot wounds that will be most reported, and this can obviously affect those seeking help in the midst of despair. They pose no risk to society, do not need police enforcement, and may well be deterred from getting medical/psychological assistance  given the new policy.

 If passed, Saskatchewan will be the 2nd province with this legislation, and the first  that includes knife wounds along with gunshot wounds. If we continue to increase the number of mandatory reporting situations, such vilations of privacy may become normalized. They may extend to other situations where the physician or nurse may has information of interest to police such as domestic violence, illicit drug use, or any number of other issues.