The Ferret Investigates

"You're just trying these interventions to save people but it's not enough because this crisis is structural. We need housing, we need support. We need a foundation to heal." Zoe Dodd, co-founder of Moss Park overdose prevention site.This summer Glasgow will be the first UK city to open a sanctioned safer drug consumption facility. People will bring their own drugs and inject them supervised by staff able to respond immediately if anyone overdoses.Similar overdose prevention sites and consumption facilities have opened at more than 100 sites in 11 countries over the last 30 years.Ahead of the Glasgow service opening, The Ferret visited one such project, the Mosspark Treatment and Consumption Service in Toronto, to find out what difference its community-focussed approach can make.This podcast follows drug users and staff through a day-in-the-life of this service, exploring its roots in civil disobedience and its ongoing fight for recognition.We heard from those struggling to cope with the realities of addiction to super-strength fentanyl as well as those whose lives had been saved by the Moss Park team.Texas, MK, Sarah, Erin and others tell stories of love and loss, and of systemic failure in the midst of an ongoing toxic drug death crisis.But they also highlight the importance of hope, the possibility of healing and the impact that being part of a community can have.Read the script here.This podcast is written, recorded and produced by Karin Goodwin for The Ferret. Additional editing and sound design is by Alan Bryden.Deep thanks go to everyone in the Moss Park community. This podcast is dedicated to the people they’ve lost.If you need help or support in relation to your drug use you can contact wearewithyou.org.uk, or if you need someone to talk to, you can call thesamaritans.org or call 116 123.Please support our work by becoming a member, or giving us a donation at theferret.scot and please share this podcast and leave us a review. It really does help.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

In 2017 synthetic opioid fentanyl hit the Canadian city of Toronto and people using drugs started dropping. Drug deaths hit record levels - across the state of Ontario there were 1,270 that year.Health professionals, activists and drug users called for an emergency response to the toxic drug death crisis facing them. And when authorities failed to set up a safer drug consumption facility activists in the Moss Park neighbourhood of the city  took matters into their own hands. They gathered supplies and nurses and set up an unsanctioned overdose prevention site in the park where they ran it illegally for a year before being granted permission to operate by the health authority and moving inside with funding. With the UK’s first safer drug consumption facility due to open in Glasgow this summer The Ferret visited the Mosspark Treatment and Consumption Service in Toronto, Canada to find out what difference the community-focussed approach it takes can make. We heard from those struggling to cope with the realities of super-strength drug fentanyl as well as those whose lives had been saved by the Moss Park team. We heard stories of love and loss, of systemic failure and of the limitations of a service like this. The toxic drug crisis is ongoing with deaths in the state more than doubling to  2,857 in 2021 and continued alerts about the contaminated drug supply causing multiple deaths. But we heard stories of hope and healing and the impact that being part of a community that cares can have. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

"Our deaths by suicide rate is not coming down because we have too many poor people. They don’t have enough money, they can’t feed themselves, they don’t have any hope because they don’t know what’s coming down the road. " Sean McCann, trauma psychotherapistIn part three of The Ferret investigates…the health gap – a three-part special podcast from The Ferret media co-op and Greater Govanhill magazine – we turn our attention to the mental wellbeing of young and middle aged men, another issue driving health inequalities in Scotland. In Scotland, men in the most deprived areas of Scotland have a life expectancy of almost 14 years less than those in the most affluent areas. Of the 753 people that completed suicide in 2021, three quarters were men. In this episode we hear from James, a joiner from Glasgow, about his struggles with his mental health and Bill Hill of the Lighthouse charity tells us about the way the construction industry, which is currently losing two workers to suicide every day, has been forced to mobilise to save lives.We also visit San Francisco's Harm Reduction Therapy Center and find out how offering people struggling with substance use therapy on the street is dismantling the myth that some are hard to reach. In the studio our hosts are joined by Linda Birnie of Mikey’s Line which offers suicide prevention and a helpline across the Highlands and was set-up following the tragic death of two friends, Martin Shaw and Michael Williamson. Other guests include Graeme Callander of We Are With You, a charity which works with people struggling with their mental health, or alcohol or substance use and psychotherapist Sean McCann, who also works for Strathclyde UniversityYou can find all three episodes of The Ferret investigates...the health gap on The Ferret or wherever you get your podcasts. Credits: Hosts: Karin Goodwin, of The Ferret and Samar Jamal, of Greater Govanhill magazine Interviews: Karin GoodwinProduction: Halina Rifai and Karin Goodwin Episode editing and sound: Halina Rifai Music: Loris S. SaridPackage about the Harm Reduction Therapy CenterReporting, sound recording and writing: Karin GoodwinEditing and sound design: Flora Zajicek This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

If it wasn't for safer injecting sites I wouldn't be alive today that's for sure because I wouldn't be able to stay alive long enough to hit bottom – to have a moment of clarity where I was able to say 'I don't want to do this any more'. "Trey Helton, manager of the Overdose Prevention Society in VancouverIn part two of The Ferret investigates…the health gap – a three-part special podcast from The Ferret media co-op and Greater Govanhill magazine – we look at drug deaths, one of the key factors driving Scottish health inequalities. In Scotland, men in the most deprived areas of Scotland have a life expectancy of almost 14 years less than those in the most affluent areas. And for women that gap is ten and a half years. A total of 1,051 people died of drug overdoses across Scotland in 2022 – that’s almost three people a day. And you’re 16 times as likely to die of a drug overdose if you live in a deprived community than if you live in a wealthy one. In this episode we visit Simon Community Scotland's We See You project and hear from coordinator Jim Thomson and participant Owen Docherty about the power of finding connection. We also visit Vancouver where Trey Helton tells us how the Overdose Prevention Society is saving lives, and we hear from indigenous women at the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre – a group disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis there – about how reconnecting with their culture is helping them heal. In the studio we hear from Simon Community Scotland's Claire Longmuir and Professor Andrew McAuley from Glasgow Caledonian University about what's working in Scotland and what more we need to do. You can find all three episodes of The Ferret investigates...the health gap on The Ferret or wherever you get your podcasts. Credits: Hosts: Karin Goodwin, of The Ferret and Samar Jamal, of Greater Govanhill magazine Interviews: Karin GoodwinProduction: Halina Rifai and Karin Goodwin Episode editing and sound: Halina Rifai Music: Loris S. SaridPackage about indigenous culture Reporting, sound recording and writing: Karin GoodwinEditing and sound design: Flora Zajicek The Vancouver interviews were recorded on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh Nations.  This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

"We know that the first 1,000 days are the most important time in a child's life. If you get that right you have a much better chance of a life being healthy in the future.” Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, the Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) project The Ferret investigates…the health gap, is a three-part special podcast from The Ferret media co-op and Greater Govanhill magazine looking at the health gap – that’s the stark difference between the health and wellbeing of people depending on where you live. In Scotland men in the most deprived areas of Scotland have a life expectancy of almost 14 years less than those in the most affluent areas. And for women that gap is ten and a half years. This podcast – part of our year-long Mind the health gap solutions journalism project – doesn’t just highlight the problems but looks at the responses, from Scotland and beyond, that might help us fix them. Part one looks at child and infant health and hears why a good start in life really matters for long term wellbeing. Guests include Linda Bauld, a professor of public health at Edinburgh University who is also a Scottish Government advisor. She claims the Scottish Child Payment is having an impact on reducing child poverty. We also hear from migrant women accessing English lessons at Milk Cafe in Govanhill,  Glasgow about the challenges of eating well on a restricted budget, and visit the Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) project in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.You can find all three episodes of The Ferret investigates...the health gap on The Ferret or wherever you get your podcasts. Credits: Hosts: Karin Goodwin, of The Ferret and Samar Jamal, of Greater Govanhill magazine Interviews: Rhiannon Davies and Samar Jamal Production: Halina Rifai and Karin Goodwin Episode editing and sound: Halina Rifai Music: Loris S. SaridPackage about Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition Reporting, sound recording and writing: Samar Jamal and Rhiannon Davies Editing and sound: Flora Zajicek This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker -...

Conservationists have urged NatureScot to stick to the timetable it set for Scotland’s new policy on wild beavers, to save animals from being shot.In our latest podcast, Richard Baynes talks to campaigners, landowners and NatureScot about the challenges and benefits of relocating beavers. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

Why is a supermarket sponsoring vital climate talks? And just how green is it?The Ferret has reported on the total carbon cost  of the “principle partners” of COP26, which produce a staggering 350m tonnes of carbon a year.Now, in this exclusive podcast, we look in more depth at the one of the most high-profile of these, the climate talks’ “Principal Supermarket Partner”, Sainsbury’s.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

With COP26 in Glasgow approaching, our podcast will let you hear the hum and more about the impact of potential energy industries on this slice of the Clyde coast.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

Scotland's nightlife culture is in crisis. As leading industry figures warn that venues may close with a tsunami of jobs due to Covid-19 restrictions, Ferret journalist Karin Goodwin speaks to DJs, promoters and others working in the nightlife industry about the economic, human and cultural costs. What will survive? And what might re-emerge post pandemic? When might we be able to dance together again? Read more: https://theferret.scot/action-scotland-nightlife-culture-coronavirus/Music thanks to: Soma Records, Avoidant Records, Gaming (for Hobbes Music), R.A.F and James Krautabla Tinghttps://soma-records.bandcamp.com/https://hobbesmusicon.bandcamp.com/album/scenes-from-a-deserted-city-lp-digital-download-hm013https://avoidantrecords.bandcamp.com/Tracks list: Slam: 47.40.991Gaming: BruisedAtonomous: DialecktR.A.F: Exit PointSlam: Strange DayzR.A.F and James Krutabla TingGaming: Sodium OrangeThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

When 16-year-old Rhea from Shetland put a call-out on an anonymous social media app asking young women to share their stories of sexual harassment,  she was taken aback to receive over 60 in a 24-hour period, detailing experiences from unwanted touching to horrific sexual violence like rape. Journalist Karin Goodwin finds out more. [Content warning: includes stories of sexual violence].This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

The Scottish Land Fund, set up to help community buyouts in the wake of the land reform movement, has become mainly a buildings fund and is heavily skewed towards a few local authority areas.Journalist Richard Baynes finds that substantial sums from the fund have helped communities buy assets already in public ownership – using Government cash to buy property the Government or community already owns.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

How badly has Scotland’s seabed been damaged, and should it be protected? Our podcast reporter, Richard Baynes, went to sea to find out for himself. The accompanying story is here on The Ferret. Photo thanks to Chris Rickard.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

Journalist Richard Baynes explores the debate around deer culling in the Highlands of Scotland. Read more at https://theferret.scot/deer-cull-environmentalists-landowners/This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

First published in September 2017, this report by Cormac Hourigan looks at the rise at self-harming in Scottish prisons. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

Jim Cuthbert, an Edinburgh-based economist who investigates private finance projects explain why they have concerns over the use of private finance to fund new schools, health centres and roads in Scotland. This audio was originally published as part of this 2016 story in The Ferret:  https://theferret.scot/probe-private-finance-schemes-scotland/ This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

Journalist Richard Baynes examines the science behind increased awareness of fish sentience and pain responses, the fears of campaigners about fish welfare, and the industry response to these concerns. This podcast was originally released as part of this August 2018 story on The Ferret:  https://theferret.scot/halt-salmon-farming-expansion/  This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

“They called them ‘sabia’ or ‘jaria. This means ‘female slaves’. Daesh viewed them as ‘spoils of war’,” said Dr Luma Hazim.She was interviewed by The Ferret earlier this year when we visited Iraq to report on the impact of Islamic State’s violence in the region.Dr Hazim runs a specialist centre in Iraqi-Kurdistan that helps Yazidi women who were abducted by IS – and she talked about the unimaginable crimes that women suffered.She said that most women were raped multiple times. Many were gang raped and some had broken bones when they came to the centre. Scores of women had genital problems.The Ferret met Dr Hazim in the Kurdish city of Duhok while travelling around the region to document the effect of Islamic State’s rule in some parts, following the terror group’s invasion in 2014.During that period, Islamic State killed or kidnapped around 9900 Yazidis during wanton "medieval" violence. Of that figure 3100 people were murdered. Almost half were executed by gunshot or beheading while others were burned alive.IS also abducted nearly 6800 Yazidis – mostly women – who were forced into sexual slavery.To find out more go to: https://theferret.scot/podcast-genocide-yazidis-scotlands-call-justice/This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacyAdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy