Week 9 - Resisting the War on Drugs

neoliberalism

US government approach to drugs that left individuals solely responsible for how their lives turn out

Ronald Regan

republican president that spearheaded war in drugs in 1986

Brian Mulroney

conservative PM 1984 - 1993 that ignored declining drug use rates and re-established drug issues in the political arena

Canada’s first five-year National Drug Strategy installed by Brian Mulroney

1987

legislation to establish the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse

1988

Canada and UN sign Convention Against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances

1988 - expanded international efforts to suppress markets for illegal drugs and criminalize a growing list of chemicals used to make drugs

Canada’s Drug Strategy

1992 - harm reduction was included but most funds are allocated to abstinence based programs

Jean Chrétien

liberal PM 1993 - 2003

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA)

replaced the Narcotic Control Act and parts of the Food and Drugs act under PM Jean Chrétien

2 social movements took place across Canada in the early-mid 1990s that were influenced by UK and Europe programs

• Harm reduction services

• Cannabis legalization

harm reduction

introduced by people who use drugs and meant to keep people who use drugs alive

where did harm reduction emerge

the 1980s in the UK and the Netherlands

Alexander Park (Toronto), CACTUS (Montréal), Downtown Eastside Youth Society (Vancouver)

Canada’s first needle exchange programs between 1987 - 1989

Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU)

1997 - first drug union in Canada

co-founders of VANDU

Bud Osborn and Ann Livingston

Portland Hotel Society

1991 - Non-profit social, health, and housing agency in the Downtown Eastside the helped organize many harm reduction events

Liz Evans, Mark Townsend, Kerstin Sturzbecher, Dan Small, Tom Laviolette

founders of the Portland Hotel Society

The Killing Fields

summer 1997 - protest and memorial to honour HIV/AIDS and overdose victims

Vancouver-Richmond Health Board declared a public health emergency

1997 - thanks to the efforts of Bud Osborn and the Portland Hotel Society

Libby Davies

new-democratic party MP who spoke with Bud Osborn about overdose crisis and offered concrete solutions at a press conference

outcomes of Vancouver-Richmond Health Board press conference

nothing — protest occurred again on July 11th, 2000

Donald MacPherson

Drug policy coordinator in 2001

A Framework for Action: a Four-Pillar Approach to Drug Problems in Vancouver

report by Donald MacPherson that was eventually adopted as official drug policy

Philip Owen and Larry Campbell

Vancouver mayors that showed support for the policies in MacPherson’s framework in 2002

Dr. Peter Centre (HIV/AIDS) health care facility in Vancouver

integrated a nurse-supervised injection site into its program in 2002

Insite

2003 - Canada’s first official supervised injection site in the Downtown Eastside

federal approval for supervised injection sites is granted

2016

FirSquare

2003 - harm reduction unit at Women’s Hospital in Vancouver

Dr. Ron Abrahams

helped open FirSquare

Stephen Harper

conservative PM 2006 - 2015 that opposed harm reduction approaches and supported law enforcement initiatives

National Anti-Drug Strategy

introduced by PM Stephen Harper in 2007

Portland Hotel Society challenges Federal Government’s proposal to shut Insite

August 2007

Supreme court of Canada rules that closing Insite in a Charter violation

2011

federal government lifts 1950s ban on approving licenses for heroin importation

1984 - still hard to prescribe and suppliers just stopped providing the drug

heroin-assisted treatment trials opened in Vancouver and Montréal

2005 - permanent programs were never established after

Charter challenge launched when federal policy was revised

November 13th, 2013 - 5 former HAT participants and Providence Healthcare of BC

2013 Charter challenge withdrawn

September 2016 - after Health Canada reinstated former policy under liberal PM Justin Trudeau

Crosstown Clinic in Vancouver

as of September 2017 the only provided of HAT but plans to expand are underway

what drug has played a significant part in the opiod overdose epidemic

fentanyl

where does the opioid epidemic stem from

prohibition

2015 Ontario overdoses

700

2021 Ontario overdoses

2800

2016 Alberta overdoes

443

2021 Alberta overdoes

1460

2016 BC overdoeses

931

2021 BC overdoses

1782

Bud Osborn

poet and key harm-reduction activist in Vancouver Downtown Eastside

2000 Crosses Memorial

July 11th, 2000 at Oppenheimer Park

Fix: The Story of an Addicted City

2002 - captures activism leading to safer injection services