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.

In this bonus episode, we’re introducing On Drugs from CBC.

On Drugs from CBC looks through the lenses of history, pop culture and personal experience to understand how drugs have shaped our world. Because even if it’s just caffeine or ibuprofen, there’s a good chance you’re on drugs right now.

In Vancouver’s East Hastings, the Safe Supply program challenges the conventional narrative that sobriety is the ultimate goal. Host, Geoff Turner visits the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users office to sit down with Garth. This episode explores harm reduction, examining how drug addiction intersects with issues of poverty, shame, and community. Are programs like these changing lives? Why did they end? Did decriminalization really fail?

More episodes of On Drugs are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/Hipojc

Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the best places on earth – a world class city surrounded by ocean and mountains. If you can afford it, the good life is yours. 

But over the last fifteen years, Vancouver has become more dangerous for drug users than ever before. Especially young drug users. 

In episode 49, we hear from professor Danya Fast and Sarah West, one of Danya’s research collaborators. Both reflect on what it’s like to witness and to document preventable deaths during this crisis.

On the eve of a provincial election in British Columbia, Garth and Sam drill down on the parties’ platforms. Plus — VANDU member Scotty Archondous tells a story relevant to BC’s coming involuntary treatment program.

In episode 47, we bring you a brief update on the show and the harm reduction movement. Plus you’ll hear new tunes from Garth’s band.

In Canada, alcohol is legal and we have a safe supply of booze. So why do some people drink mouthwash or rice wine? And why does the state over-police poor people for public drinking?

In episode 46, we learn how Canada’s alcohol policies drive illicit drinking. And we hear from a group of drinkers who are fighting back with alcohol-based harm reduction.

Politicians and much of the media have been lying and whipping up a moral panic. And now, decriminalization in British Columbia is all but dead. In this episode, Garth talks with Crackdown senior producer Sam Fenn and VANDU organizer Hannah Dempsey to bring you the straight goods on why drugs have been re-criminalized and what the grim implications of this move are.

Right wing politicians say safe supply will hurt kids – that young people will get hooked on drugs they’d otherwise never try.

But kids already use drugs. If we want to protect and stabilize the lives of young people who use drugs, we need a regulated, non-toxic drug supply.

On episode 44, we hear from Danny – a young queer refugee who shares their story of surviving persecution and toxic drugs.

Rightwing politicians and media pundits want us to fear safe supply and harm reduction. They say these interventions are putting children and families in danger, when we know the opposite is true.

But there is one thing these conservatives are right about: Canadian kids have never been less safe. Not because of harm reduction, but because toxic illicit drugs might fuck up their lives. Or, because toxic illicit drugs might fuck up their parents’ lives.

On episode 43, we tell the story of Jade — a 21 year old harm reduction worker from Saskatchewan whose parents use drugs.

Across the country, politicians and the media are fearmongering about children’s safety. They’re using a faux concern about families to attack harm reduction and the drug user movement. And their rhetoric is rolling back life-saving, public health responses to the overdose crisis. But now young people are pushing back. They’re saying they don’t want to see harm reduction attacked in their name.

Kids on the Block Part 1 tells the story of Bones, a teenager from a small town in Western Canada as he struggles to survive the overdose crisis and keep his friends safe.