Can drug users lives be saved by giving them uncontaminated heroin and cocaine?
A Vancouver “compassion club” is buying illicit drugs and testing for impurities before distributing them to users at risk of overdose
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Canada remains in the grips of a deadly toxic drug crisis that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands. It’s a crisis that has been blamed on a war — the war on drugs — fuelled by what policy experts and people who use drugs say is a mix of prohibition, criminalization, lack of supports and stigma. In the face of what is called government foot-dragging on providing the tools needed to stem the tide of death, activists are taking action, recently launching a fulfilment centre and compassion club in Vancouver, which procures, tests, repackages, and distributes drugs to people at high risk of overdose. The group is risking their liberty in the process, as the club is not legal — but they’re fighting the federal government in court so that it can be. They haven’t been shy about publicizing their activities, and have even been visited by the federal minister for addictions.
