Meanwhile, some activists in Vancouver believe in taking safe supply even further: making tested drugs available to all users, not just as medical treatment for substance-use disorder. In 2020, in order to curtail fatal overdoses, a group known as the Drug User Liberation Front established what it calls a “compassion club” in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. This club made rigorously tested versions of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine available to users. In October founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum were arrested for breaking B.C.’s drug laws, and the club was forced to shut down.
A 2024 study of the compassion club published in the International Journal of Drug Policy found that among
→ Continue reading at Crosscut
