That's not an area I specifically study, but I can comment on what I know in the context of this committee's work on the unregulated drug crisis.
First off, generally, we know misinformation spreads more rapidly than truth. Likewise, corrections or responses are also very slow in coming, if at all. What most concerns me is seeing a persistent and repeated pattern of misinformation and lies being spread by the current leader of the official opposition, who seeks to become the next leader of our country on this issue. It is deeply repugnant, during a public health emergency that is killing tens of thousands of Canadians, that there would be any dispute, let alone the deliberate spreading of misinformation about the proximate cause of that.
We know from every available source what the cause of the toxic drug crisis is. It is illicit drugs made by organized crime, full stop. There are reasons people take drugs. There are different pathways we could take with policy. However, if we can't even agree on the problem, we're never going to get to saving lives. I think that is the starting point for this committee's work: Do the members of this committee agree that's the problem? The second is: What's the objective? Is the objective to save lives, or is it to follow the polls?
There is a clear correlation between policies that are not evidence-based but which poll very well, such as cracking down on people who use drugs with forced treatment, and that result in increased deaths, according to the research.