Why Canada Went From Treating Addiction to Normalizing It

Why Canada Went From Treating Addiction to Normalizing It with Michelle Ferreri. A Toronto cafe, a prison, a courthouse, and a country that keeps telling itself everything is fine. Michelle Ferreri says the warning signs are no longer abstract they are on the street, in the prison system, and in the way Canada is responding to addiction, public safety, and antisemitism. Michelle Ferreri, a political commentator, former parliamentarian, keynote speaker, and media and communications specialist, joins Ben with a blunt, unsettling firsthand account of what she saw downtown in Toronto and why she believes the country has stopped protecting the most vulnerable. From open drug use in public to safe supply policies inside prisons, she argues the system has moved from failure to surrender and that ordinary Canadians are now paying the price. Michelle also shares what changed after traveling to Israel in 2025, where she saw coexistence, security, and the reality of living with threats up close You'll hear a hard-hitting conversation about: why Michelle says addiction should be treated as a public safety crisis, not a political slogan what she witnessed in a Toronto cafe and why she filmed it despite hating to do it how prison drug policy, treatment, and forced intervention fit into the larger breakdown the controversial legal and political choices that, in her view, normalize disorder instead of fixing it why she believes Canadians can no longer treat antisemitism, violence, and institutional trust as separate issues Michelle also shares what changed after traveling to Israel in 2025, where she saw coexistence, security, and the reality of living with threats up close. That experience shapes her view of Canada’s escalating antisemitism crisis, the failures she sees in enforcement, and the danger of pretending hate is someone else’s problem.