Drug Toxicity Crisis Response Dispatches, Drug Users

From the US Border to Whalley & the Downtown Eastside: Drug Bust Stories Should Never be One-Sided Celebrations

From the Surrey Union of Drug Users’ Research Committee & Police Oversight with Evidence and Research (P.O.W.E.R) at the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users:

It is not uncommon for reporters to simply reiterate police messaging when it comes to drug busts and raids – sometimes even acting as cheerleaders for these spectacles or encouraging people to collaborate with them by sharing information with police.

But only providing the police and government’s side of this story, especially during a forever public health emergency, is dangerous and misguided.

While the province might celebrate “separating people from the unregulated supply,” media reports rarely go beneath the surface of what that actually means.

Separating people from their known source and supply can be dangerous for individuals, and on a systemic level reduces the amount of supply without the corresponding change in demand. This means there may be a temporary increase in street prices, and decreased access for people who use substances. In response, people may turn to a lesser known source, a significant risk factor for overdose.

All this occurs while there is no extra support provided for people who use drugs and whose purchasing market is suddenly destabilized. What about the impacts that follow drug busts, which are rarely, if ever reported on – from overdose rates to potential increases in theft and other crime?

Police can also generate violence in our communities by robbing us of what little we have, and leave us with interpersonal drug market debt. This is often reported as gang violence, but the underlying reasons for a sudden violent event or uptick in violence is often left unaddressed.

While we have always known this from experience, recent studies have clarified that there are significant associations between police drug raids and risk of overdose, including fatal overdose. Meanwhile, there is no access to a regulated alternative outside of the medical system.

It is also important to remember that drug busts tend to have the most severe impacts on the street-level and among mid-level workers in the unregulated drug market, while the people at the very top tend to remain unaffected.

Representatives of Victoria Police Department and BC government stand behind results of a “multi jurisdictional” drug bust, 2016, photo by the Province of BC

This replicates the unevenly felt violence produced by the toxic drug crisis.
And the solutions to these costly and endless raids – do police still think they’re gonna win the war on drugs?! – a legal, regulated drug supply, is rarely linked to these events in media stories.

As BC journalist Dustin Godfrey has highlighted, “It’s time for journalists to stop reporting uncritically on drug busts.”

The Surrey Union of Drug Users Research Committee and Police Oversight with Evidence and Research (P.O.W.E.R) at the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users can always be contacted to provide the important, lived context on drug bust stories, because whether it is in the Downtown Eastside or in Whalley, drug bust stories should never solely represent those in power and police perspectives.

BACKGROUND

CONTACT
SUDU Research Committee: snudu.office[@]gmail.com
P.O.W.E.R at VANDU: power[@]vandu.org