You can’t understand Canada’s overdose crisis without knowing the truth about this country – and that’s the story of colonization: a centuries-long effort to steal land and erase Indigenous peoples.

We haven’t had a big win in a while. And 2019 feels a bit like a depressing blur. But it was also a year where we fought back. In the last Crackdown episode of the year, we tell four stories about surviving the drug war.

In 2018, Scotland had a higher rate of drug-related deaths than Canada or the U.S. — even though fentanyl hasn’t taken over the U.K.’s drug supply. In Episode 10, CRACKDOWN crosses the Atlantic to try and figure out what’s going on.

Crackdown investigates the relationship between the BC government and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Many people on methadone complain that Methadose® “doesn’t have legs.” Why hasn’t the government provided them with a more effective option?

We don’t have a full documentary this month – for a pretty good reason.

Men are dying at a higher rate than women during the opioid crisis, which means women sometimes get left out of the conversation. On Episode 8 of Crackdown, we go to SisterSpace, North America’s first women-only safe consumption site.

The Vancouver Police say they’re for harm reduction, but everyone we talk to in the Downtown Eastside says otherwise. On Episode 7 of Crackdown, Garth asks the cops to stand down.

What happens when your options are being kicked out on the street or living in a room filled with mould, trash and rats? Episode 6 of Crackdown looks at how the housing and overdose crises are intertwined, and what happens when tenants fight back.

This month Crackdown is exploring the pernicious connections between North America’s overdose crisis and the housing crisis.

Garth goes to Portugal to figure out whether the country has found a solution to North America’s overdose crisis.