Crackdown

Cops kill people. They hurt people. They sexually assault people. And when they do, there’s a whole system that’s supposed to hold them accountable, but it barely works. On Episode 58, Garth and Sam dig into Canada’s rotten history of police accountability—and ask whether the system is failing, or doing exactly what it was built to do.

HEADLINES

A recent report by the Tracking (In)Justice Project at Carleton University has found that Canadian police officers have killed significantly more people during the 2020s than in previous decades. In 96% of cases Canada’s police oversight agencies declined to recommend or lay charges on officers. 

APTN reports that a family from the Swan Lake First Nation in Manitoba is frustrated with the province’s Independent Investigations Unit. In 2025, an officer with the Manitoba First Nations Police Service shot and killed their dog. This week, the IIU cleared the officer of any potential charges. (Link). 

Universities are spying on students. The Breach uncovered a secret network of administrators at top Canadian universities. This “top-secret” network worked to surveille and suppress students protesting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. In Alberta, University managers were found to have colluded with the UCP government and the police to clear student encampments using violent, para-military raids. 

Since 2025, the US military has killed over 200 people as part of Operation Southern Spear – a campaign to bomb small fishing boats in the Caribbean. Human rights organizations have called it “illegal” and a “murder spree.” President Donald Trump has claimed that these bombings contributed to a 97% reduction in drugs trafficked to the US by sea. However, a recently leaked Drug Enforcement Administration assessment states that Donald Trumps’ bombings have completely failed to impact the supply, purity, and price of cocaine in the United States. (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3). 

UPDATES

DULF’s Charter Challenge had its last day in court at the end of July. You can read Michelle Gamage’s reporting on the trial for The Tyee on the DULF trial here. 

The BC Supreme Court recently issued a decision saying that David Eby’s forced treatment centres violate Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Read Health Justice’s summary of the decision here.  

FEATURE STORY #1

Garth and Sam talk to Kingsley Gilliam, a civil rights legend and the Director of Advocacy for the Black Action Defence Committee, as well as Lydia Lukas Lobbezoo, a policy consultant and researcher specializing in police oversight. You can read Lydia Lukas Lobozoo’s thesis, “Police oversight and the search for justice in British Columbia,” here. 

COMMUNITY PROFILE

Support Starlings work with youth whose parents use drugs, here. 

FEATURE STORY #2

Garth and Sam talk to Samona Marsh, Tyson Singh Kelsall, Paul Henry, and Professor Kanna Hayashi from the Vancouver-based organization, Police Oversight With Evidence and Research (POWER). You can read POWER’s report “What Are Police For?” and their IDJP paper on police confiscations here. 

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

Pivot legal society recently released a guide for health care service providers in BC to know their rights when encountering police officers. 

Amy Romer investigates the emotional realities of living through a planetary health crisis in the new podcast series, Beyond Ecological Grief.  

Read Justin Mah’s touching essay about his relationship with his father, mental health, and the overdose crisis, “Amidst a Protracted Toxic Drug Crisis.” 

Read Euan Thompson’s investigative series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4) about the Nova Scotia government’s attacks on the Halifax-based Out of the Cold Community Association.

CREDITS

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.

Our editorial board is Dean Wilson, Jeff Louden, Laura Shaver, Samona Marsh, Delilah Gregg, Ryan Maddeaux, Scotty Archonous and Martin Steward. Rest in peace Shelda Kastor, Dave Murray, Greg Fresz and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn and Garth Mullins with help from Professor Kanna Hayashi, Tyson Singh Kelsall, and Alex de Boer. Sam and Garth also wrote some of the music in this episode. The rest was produced by Blue Dot Sessions. 

This episode was funded in part by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant awarded to Professor Kanna Hayashi (funding number PJT-190266).

Please support Crackdown at patreon.com/crackdownpod.

Description

Garth and Sam discuss Elanore Sturko, Vaughn Palmer and Tristin Hopper’s responses to Canada’s declining overdose deaths in 2025. Was it the NDP’s abandonment of decriminalization and “prescribed alternatives” that caused fewer Canadians to die? 

No, it wasn’t.

Table of Contents

[04:21] SEGMENT 1: Show updates – we ain’t dead yet!

[08:01] SEGMENT 2: Canada’s ultraconservatives want credit for the declining overdoses. Do they deserve any? 

[23:26] SEGMENT 3: Community Profile – Tyson Singh Kelsall and Police Oversight with Evidence and Research (POWER). 

[25:34] SEGMENT 4: Evaluating the federal Liberal Party. Is there anything they can do to stop the attacks on overdose prevention across the country? 

[36:05] SEGMENT 5: How much credit does the drug user movement deserve for the declining overdose numbers? 

[41:58] SEGMENT 6: Bubble pipes and other kinds of glassware are becoming scarce in BC. We discuss an open letter written by drug users. 

Notes

You can support our friends at Power here: https://www.policeoversight.ca/

Graph – “Necropolitics” in fatal overdose projections (link):

Graph – Declining fentanyl purity since 2023 (link):

Graph – Reddit posts discussing fentanyl droughts (link):

A link to VANDU’s open letter on glassware shortages in BC will be uploaded to our website when it’s available: https://www.crackdownpod.com/ 

Works Cited

Reports

BC Centre for Disease Control. “Population Estimates of Opioid-Related Harms in BC.” 2026.

The Public Health Agency of Canada. Modelling Apparent Opioid Toxicity Deaths during the Overdose Crisis. Government of Canada. 2025.

The Government of Canada. “Opioid- and Stimulant-Related Harms in Canada: Key Findings.” 2026.

Press Conferences

Cable Public Affairs Channel. “Federal Officials Hold a News Conference on Illegal Drug Crisis.” Press Conference, 2026.

Gebien, Darryl. Zöe Dodd Brave Words to Politicians at Health Canada’s Opioid Symposium 2018 in Toronto. YouTube. 2018.

Books

Lupick, Travis. Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017.

AudioBooks

Mbembe, Achille. Necropolitics. Translated by Steven Corcoran. Narrated by Sean Crisden. Tantor Media, 2021. Audiobook, 8 hr., 31 min. 

Journal Articles

Fischer, Benedikt, and Wayne Hall. “Recent Decreases in Drug Overdose Deaths: Assessing Evidence for Supply-Related Drivers and Implications for Health-Oriented Drug Policy in Canada.” Preventive Medicine 209 (August 2026): 108607.

Fischer, Benedikt, Wayne Hall, Didier Jutras-Aswad, and Bernard Le Foll. “Considering Possible Drivers of the Recent Decrease in Drug Overdose Deaths in Canada.” The Lancet Regional Health – Americas 47 (July 2025): 101141.

Irvine, Michael A., Daniel Coombs, Jane A. Buxton, Robert Balshaw, Mark Gilbert, David M. Patrick, Mark Tyndall, and Navdeep Chami. “Modelling the Combined Impact of Interventions in Averting Deaths During a Synthetic-Opioid Overdose Epidemic.” Addiction 114, no. 9 (September 2019): 1602–1612.

Lavalley, Jennifer, Linda Steinhauer, Dino (Boomer) Bundy, Thomas Kerr, and Ryan McNeil. “‘They Talk about It like It’s an Overdose Crisis When in Fact It’s Basically Genocide’: The Experiences of Indigenous Peoples Who Use Illicit Drugs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood.” International Journal of Drug Policy 134 (December 2024): 104631.

Vangelov, Kasey, Keith Humphreys, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Harold Pollack, Bryce Pardo, and Peter Reuter. “Did the Illicit Fentanyl Trade Experience a Supply Shock?” Science 391, no. 6781 (2026): 134–36.

News Stories – Videos

“Calgary’s Supervised Consumption Site Closes after Nearly a Decade of Debate.” Global News. June 30, 2026.

“‘Heartbreaking’: 1 Overdose Death Every 5 Minutes.” Rush Hour – News Nation. May 11, 2022.

“‘I Want to Help Them’: Doug Ford Says He’s Closing Safe Consumption Sites for People’s Own Good.” CTV News. March 16, 2026.

Lavoie, Joanna. “West Toronto Supervised Consumption Site Shutting down after Ford Government Pulls Funding.” CTV News, October 27, 2025.

“No ‘Silver Bullet’ to Solve Canada’s Toxic Drug Crisis: Health Minister.” CBC News. June 15, 2026.

“Ontario Government Defunds Supervised Drug Consumption Sites, Forcing Closures.” City News. March 16, 2026.

“Opioid Crisis May Be Declining Canadians’ Life Expectancy.” The National. October 23, 2018.

“Opioid Deaths Are on the Decline, but Canada’s Crisis Is Still Far from Over.” CTV News. June 15, 2026.

“Overdose Prevention Site Shuts Down.” CTV News Vancouver. February 4, 2026.

“Pierre Poilievre Calls Supervised Consumption Sites ‘drug Dens,’ Vows to Close Them.” CBC News. July 12, 2024.

News Stories – Print/Online

Finkle, Derek. “Academics Trying to Gaslight Residents Terrorized by Safe Injection Site Crime.” National Post. October 1, 2025.

Hopper, Tristin. “B.C. Premier Admits That Decriminalizing Drugs Was a Mistake.” National Post. October 7, 2025.

Hopper, Tristin. “B.C. Recrim­in­al­ized Drugs, and Over­dose Deaths Are in Decline.” National Post. June 27, 2026.

Paling, Emma. “EXCLUSIVE: Carney Government Prevented Parkdale SCS from Staying Open.” The Grind, January 21, 2026.

Palmer, Vaughn. “Dropping Opioid Death Toll Hints B.C. NDP Retreat on Harm-Reduction May Be Working.” The Vancouver Sun, June 15, 2026.

The Canadian Press. “First Nations Overdose Deaths in B.C. Drop in 2025, but Still Disproportionally High.” CTV News, April 15, 2026.

Social Media Posts

Sturko, Elenore. X Post. June 16, 2026: https://x.com/elenoresturko/status/2066890213021122905.

Vote4ABC. Instagram Post. May 5, 2026; https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX-srKjxNHZ/.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.

Our editorial board is Dean Wilson, Jeff Louden, Laura Shaver, Samona Marsh, Delilah Gregg, Ryan Maddeaux, Scotty Archonous and Martin Steward. Rest in peace Shelda Kastor, Dave Murray, Greg Fresz and Chereece Keewatin.

Thanks to Alex de Boer for helping us find some of the articles we discussed on the show. 

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn and Garth Mullins. Sam and Garth also wrote and recorded all the music in this episode. 

If you like what we do at Crackdown, please support us at patreon.com/crackdownpod. 

It’s been almost six years since the launch of BC’s tiny safe supply program; also known as “prescribed alternatives.” Although the evidence that safe supply saves lives hasn’t changed, the political favourability of BC’s program has.

In episode 56, we talk to safe supply patients, prescribers and experts who are experiencing the dismantling of this life saving program first hand.

With fascism on the rise around the world, we explore the relationship between Canada’s housing and policing policies and the risk of far right authoritarianism at home.

Alberta is the involuntary treatment capital of Canada. Since 2006, the province has encouraged parents to waive their children’s rights and force them into detox as part of the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act. And in the coming months, Alberta will begin involuntarily detaining adults as well.

On episode 54, Crackdown producer Alex de Boer travels to Edmonton to meet Angie Staines and her son Brandon Shaw. When Brandon got wired as a young teen, Angie had a difficult choice to make: should she force Brandon to sober up? And what would happen to their relationship if she did?

We lost another soldier from the front lines. Trey Helten, longtime manager of the Overdose Prevention Society and all around harm reduction hero on the Downtown Eastside has died at 42. Trey saved hundreds of lives. He was a friend to Crackdown and often helped connect us with community members. He was featured on the show twice. Today we’re listening back to both segments.

Trey, we’re heartbroken. Rest in power.

We lost another soldier from the front lines. Trey Helten, longtime manager of the Overdose Prevention Society and all around harm reduction hero on the Downtown Eastside, has died at 42. Trey saved hundreds of lives. He was a friend to Crackdown and often helped connect us with community members. He was featured on the show twice. Today we’re listening back to both segments. 

Trey, we’re heartbroken. Rest in power.

Garth’s new book, Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War On Drugs, has just been published by Penguin Random House and is now available for purchase online. 

In Episode 52 of Crackdown, Garth reads a chapter of his book called “We Will Delete All This,” about his first time using heroin as a teenager in San Francisco. 

*Trigger warning for sexual abuse of a child and sex work. 

On March 26th, we learned that our dear friend and comrade Shelda Kastor passed away. Shelda was a hero who dedicated decades of her life to fighting for the poor, drug users, Indigenous people, and women in Vancouver. Since Crackdown’s first meeting, Shelda helped us tell the story of how colonialism and the drug war work together to harm Indigenous people in Canada. 

On episode 51 we reflect on this profound loss to our show, our movement, and our community. 

We will never forget you Shelda. 

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh Nations.

Our editorial board is Dean Wilson, Jeff Louden, Laura Shaver, Samona Marsh, Elli Taylor, Delilah Gregg, and Martin Steward. Rest in peace Shelda Kastor Dave Murray, Greg Fresz and Chereece Keewatin. 

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Garth Mullins, Sam Fenn, and Alex de Boer. 

Mix by Alex Kim.

All music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what we do here at Crackdown, please support us at patreon.com/crackdownpod.

Thanks for listening. Stay safe and keep six.

It’s the end of an era in Canada. On March 10th – after nine years in power – Mark Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as Canada’s Prime Minister. We mark the occasion by looking back at Trudeau’s legacy on the drug war: over 50,000 preventable overdose deaths. And we struggle to describe how this epidemic of death and grief has changed us and our movement.