Just give it to these folks: VANDU knows how to rally. It even inspired solidarity rallies across the globe, in support of a couple of folk heroes who sell safe drugs.
About 200 supporters of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) rallied at the Provincial Court of British Columbia in downtown Vancouver on cofounders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum’s first court appearance, demanding their criminal charges for drug trafficking be dropped.
The pair has been charged for running a compassion club for about a year, selling tested drugs to users in the DTES, without approval by Health Canada in spite of applying for an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. They are credited for saving many lives from the toxic street drug supply, to the point of earning the endorsement of Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe.
The event, organised by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) and the Vancouver Tenants Union, follows a march in early November in protest of the arrests and raid against DULF’s office. It was joined by several other organisations, including Moms Stop The Harm, the Surrey Union of Drug Users, Pivot Legal, the Coalition of Peers Dismantling the Drug War, and the Workers for Ethical Substance Use Policy.
It was also held in conjunction with several solidarity events around the world, starting with Nelson, but also in Calgary, Dublin (yes, in Ireland), and even London (indeed in the UK, not Ontario); although modest, these rallies illustrate the extent of DULF’s support. Some guests have conversely come from as far as France to attend the Vancouver rally.
So what was it like on the ground? I arrived an hour early to find out, and ended up joining a dozen volunteers to set up the tents, tables, chairs, and banners (among other things), which took us about forty-five minutes. We were soon joined by dozens of community members riding a school bus from East Hastings Street, who arrived just in time to witness the finishing touches, including a mock depiction of David Eby symbolising the BC NDP’s betrayal of VANDU’s expectations, plus tables offering harm reduction supplies and selling DULF T-shirts. Take note folks: VANDU knows how to rally.
The organisers had prepared for the worst, by recruiting several wardens, legal observers, and a police liaison officer. The VDP didn’t show up however; the only police presence was a nosy BC Sheriff who apparently hadn’t gotten the memo and walked without complaint. So far so good.
Vince Tao of VANDU seized the opportunity to issue a call for a vast coalition of interest groups having common grievances against the rise in conservatism countrywide, led by the likes of Pierre Poilievre, Kevin Falcon, Elenore Sturko, Adam Zivo, and Dr. Julian Somers, waging what he labelled a class war on the poor. Speaker after speaker would hammer this point in, explaining the war on drug users is a war on the homeless, on workers, indigenous people, those with disabilities, and even trans people. But above all, the drug war is about control, and the genocide of populations who cannot not be controlled, by taking away necessities of life and basic freedoms alike.
We learned by the end of the demonstration that proceedings had been postponed, suggesting charges may be dropped for not being in the public interest, but rather in that of the government trying to distract from its own failure to provide a safe drug supply even a couple of activists with modest means managed to. More to come in this latest chapter of the war on drug users.
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