On March 7th, lawyers for organizers Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum will appear in Federal Court to challenge Health Canada’s 2022 decision to deny an application by DULF (Drug User Liberation Front). In 2021 DULF requested permission to legally operate a compassion club through an exemption from Canada’s drug laws. The upcoming Judicial Review is expected to shed critical light on governmental obstruction of lifesaving action on the overdose crisis.
Drug War
UBC medical student Elaine Hu speaks on the need for safe supply in the context of a formal public health emergency in BC that has killed 13,000 people since 2016. Speaking at the Jan. 16 2024 Rally for the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF), Hu also addressed the limits of a medical-only model for ending the drug toxicity crisis.
On July 25, 2022, the Vancouver Fire Service issued an order to decamp the newly-formed tent city of people sheltering outside on Hastings Street. Every year the tent cities continue to grow as the housing crisis worsens. Unhoused people and low-income SRO tenants are now creating an alternative community of survival and mutual support on Hastings Street. Earlier this week the City and VPD began enforcing the Fire Order, with events on Tuesday (August 9) that can only be described as a police riot.
On January 13th, 2022, the tent city at C.R.A.B. Park beat the Vancouver Parks Board in the B.C. provincial court. Their historic win is precedent-setting. Two General Orders that the Parks Board passed banning overnight sheltering in the park were also nullified. How did we get here? What is the violent history of state repression and the counter-resistance that has led to this monumental victory? And where do we go from here?