A historic Charter challenge begins today at the BC Supreme Court, brought forward by the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF). The Charter challenge asserts the importance of DULF's life-saving compassion club model and is rooted in key sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
As a member group of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), the VANDU Education Group stands in firm solidarity with DULF’s Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum. In a province where five people per day die from the toxic and unregulated drug supply, not one member of DULF’s compassion club overdosed while using the group’s safe supply. DULF was active for roughly three years until the group was forcibly shut down in 2023.
Earlier this month the world turned its attention to R v. DULF when Jeremy and Eris were tried in the halls of the BC Supreme Court. The trial concluded on November 7 when Justice Catherine Murray found the DULF co-founders guilty on three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Yet in her ruling, Justice Murray acknowledged the life-saving work of DULF, stating “there is no question that [Kalicum and Nyx’s] intentions were and are good.” Justice Murray acknowledged the truth: DULF’s compassion club worked. DULF saves lives.
We firmly believe that the guilty ruling of November 7 was profoundly at odds with the current state of emergency and the urgency needed to save lives during the ongoing toxic drug crisis. The guilty verdict also conflicted with the text and overall substance of Justice Murray’s written decision.
The life-saving work of DULF’s compassion club had a measurable, tangible impact on the lives of its 43 members. Of these 43 compassion club members, none died by overdose within the year-long study pilot period when given access to a predictable, stable supply of heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine.
DULF’s model was a direct, courageous, and principled means to address the toxic drug crisis that last year took the lives of at least 7,146 people across Canada. The death toll is grim and continues to climb to ever-staggering heights due to ineffectual policy and callous, opportunistic fear-mongering from politicians across the political spectrum.
VANDU has long advocated for a regulated, safer alternative to illicit street drugs, which take the lives of over 2,000 British Columbians each year. Since DULF’s closure in October 2023, an estimated 3,450 people have passed away due to toxic drugs in British Columbia.
Conservative backlash against harm reduction and safer supply has resulted in the rollback of safer supply programs, the closure of OPS sites across Canada, the creation of harm reduction supply bottlenecks, and the rampant over-policing of low-income neighbourhoods. Governments at all levels continue to undermine harm reduction because it is politically convenient to dehumanize and scapegoat drug users during periods of political and economic uncertainty. This only punishes those already existing on the margins, those who continue to struggle for basic dignity and the right to know what we put in our bodies.
We know the colonial justice system blindly applies laws that target people who use drugs no matter the circumstance, taking for granted that drug use (and therefore, its distribution) can only be considered deviant behaviour. DULF was never secretive about their actions from the beginning, openly sharing details of their events and plans with local police and health authorities. This is because DULF knows that in the face of crisis and mass death, laws must be broken to protect lives.
We unwaveringly support DULF in their charter challenge. To protect the lives of people who use drugs in the face of this crisis caused by prohibition, we need tangible solutions like compassion clubs, drug decriminalization, and investment in dignified shelter-rate housing.
As we await the outcome of the Charter challenge, we see the human costs of the overdose crisis everyday at VANDU. We will continue to struggle to end the drug war and stop these unnecessary deaths, and we hope that the courts and government can find the political courage to stand on the right side of history.
–VANDU Tuesday Education and Action Group
Note: Hearings begin today in the BC Supreme Court, Robson Law Courts, Room 54
